Waiting times by specialty
Cardiothoracic surgery waiting times in England
At the end of June 2026, 9,161 people were on the England cardiothoracic surgery waiting list and about 7 in 10 people (73%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.
NHS England reports this service as Cardiothoracic Surgery Service. Heart and chest surgery, delivered by regional specialist centres. It commonly includes heart bypass and valve surgery, lung surgery.
- People waiting
- 9,161
- End of June 2026
- Under 18 weeks
- 72.8%
- Share of this published list
- Over 52 weeks
- 166
- Share of all NHS waits
- 0.1%
- of 7,178,718 total
166 people (1.8%, roughly 1 in 56) had been waiting more than 52 weeks.
How this has changed
Between July 2025 and June 2026 the share of people on the England cardiothoracic surgery list waiting under 18 weeks improved by 2.3 percentage points (71% to 73%).
The number of organisations in our imported data changed from 44 to 50 over this period, so the total count partly reflects coverage. The percentage is a more reliable guide to the trend than the headcount.
Share waiting under 18 weeks: broadly unchanged over 3 months (73.3% in March 2026); broadly unchanged over 6 months (71.9% in December 2025).
Share seen within 18 weeks, month by month
Improving · +2.3 pointsPercentage of people seen within 18 weeks, over the last 12 published months.
View these figures as a table
| Month | Within 18 weeks |
|---|---|
| July 2025 | 70.5% |
| August 2025 | 69.2% |
| September 2025 | 70% |
| October 2025 | 70.3% |
| November 2025 | 71% |
| December 2025 | 71.9% |
| January 2026 | 71.2% |
| February 2026 | 71.4% |
| March 2026 | 73.3% |
| April 2026 | 72% |
| May 2026 | 71.9% |
| June 2026 | 72.8% |
Month-to-month movements of less than two percentage points are treated as normal variation rather than a real change in direction.
Month-by-month figures
| Month | Waiting | Under 18 weeks | Over 52 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 9,293 | 70.5% | 182 |
| August 2025 | 9,321 | 69.2% | 160 |
| September 2025 | 9,269 | 70.0% | 162 |
| October 2025 | 9,326 | 70.3% | 145 |
| November 2025 | 9,279 | 71.0% | 150 |
| December 2025 | 9,392 | 71.9% | 130 |
| January 2026 | 9,293 | 71.2% | 137 |
| February 2026 | 9,323 | 71.4% | 155 |
| March 2026 | 9,135 | 73.3% | 117 |
| April 2026 | 9,122 | 72.0% | 139 |
| May 2026 | 9,177 | 71.9% | 162 |
| June 2026 | 9,161 | 72.8% | 166 |
How much hospitals differ
Across the 16 NHS trusts with data, the share waiting under 18 weeks ranges from 50% (Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) to 98% (St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) — a 48-point gap. These published figures do not predict when an individual patient will receive an appointment or treatment.
- 80% or more under 18 weeks6 trusts
- 65% to 79%7 trusts
- 50% to 64%2 trusts
- Under 50%1 trusts
NHS trusts by published position
Trusts with at least 200 people on this list, most recent month, sorted by share waiting under 18 weeks. Small differences are not meaningful.
Cardiothoracic surgery waits at individual hospitals
3 NHS organisations have a page for this service, grouped by region. Each page shows that organisation's published figures for cardiothoracic surgery alongside the England position.
What this measure includes
- These figures cover consultant-led referral-to-treatment pathways where the patient was still waiting to start treatment at the end of the reporting month.
- People can be at different stages of an incomplete referral-to-treatment pathway. The figures do not show the stage of an individual patient's pathway.
- These published aggregate figures do not show the clinical priority of an individual referral.
Checking your own position
Published figures describe a whole list for one month. To work out how long you have been waiting, use the wait check. The team named on your appointment letter is the only source for your actual place on a list.
How to read a specialty figure
These are end-of-month counts of people on an incomplete consultant-led referral-to-treatment pathway. One specialty list holds referrals of different clinical priority and people at different stages, and the published figures do not separate them, so this is context rather than a forecast for any individual.
What these figures cannot tell you
- Where you are in a queue, or when you will be seen or treated.
- How urgent your own referral is. These are aggregate waiting-list figures and do not show the clinical priority of an individual patient.
- Anything about a specific consultant, clinic or site within a trust.
- What will happen next month: these are end-of-month snapshots of a past period.
Related guides on this site
- Work out how long you've waited
Explains how the 18-week measure is counted and what a published percentage represents.
- Your rights while you wait
Reference article on what the 18-week standard is and is not.
- What happens if the NHS misses the 18-week target
Background on what happens when the 18-week standard is not met.
- NHS patient choice explained
Background on the legal basis of NHS patient choice.
- How consultant triage works
Explains how clinical triage affects the spread of waits on one list.