NHS Wait Helper

Waiting times by specialty

Rheumatology waiting times in England

At the end of June 2026, 118,749 people were on the England rheumatology waiting list and about 7 in 10 people (71%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

NHS England reports this service as Rheumatology Service. Medical care of joints, autoimmune and connective-tissue conditions. It commonly includes inflammatory arthritis, lupus and vasculitis, osteoporosis clinics.

People waiting
118,749
End of June 2026
Under 18 weeks
70.8%
Share of this published list
Over 52 weeks
1,100
Share of all NHS waits
1.7%
of 7,178,718 total

1,100 people (0.9%, roughly 1 in 111) had been waiting more than 52 weeks.

How this has changed

Between July 2025 and June 2026 the share of people on the England rheumatology list waiting under 18 weeks improved by 2.8 percentage points (68% to 71%).

Share waiting under 18 weeks: broadly unchanged over 3 months (70.4% in March 2026); up 4.1 points over 6 months (66.7% in December 2025).

Share seen within 18 weeks, month by month

Improving · +2.8 points

Percentage of people seen within 18 weeks, over the last 12 published months.

View these figures as a table
Percentage seen within 18 weeks by month
MonthWithin 18 weeks
July 202568%
August 202567.1%
September 202567.4%
October 202566.8%
November 202566.7%
December 202566.7%
January 202666.3%
February 202667.3%
March 202670.4%
April 202669.6%
May 202670.5%
June 202670.8%

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
Monthly Rheumatology figures for England
MonthWaitingUnder 18 weeksOver 52 weeks
July 2025123,61068.0%1,487
August 2025124,19667.1%1,410
September 2025122,69767.4%1,266
October 2025121,59566.8%1,137
November 2025118,61366.7%999
December 2025117,98966.7%875
January 2026116,25866.3%859
February 2026114,27667.3%779
March 2026112,40070.4%755
April 2026115,47869.6%937
May 2026118,22970.5%1,110
June 2026118,74970.8%1,100

How much hospitals differ

Across the 112 NHS trusts with data, the share waiting under 18 weeks ranges from 31% (Medway NHS Foundation Trust) to 100% (Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust) — a 69-point gap. These published figures do not predict when an individual patient will receive an appointment or treatment.

  • 80% or more under 18 weeks55 trusts
  • 65% to 79%32 trusts
  • 50% to 64%17 trusts
  • Under 50%8 trusts

A further 2 NHS-funded independent-sector and other providers reported 1,584 people waiting for this service. Their case mix can differ from an NHS trust's, so they are counted here but not ranked alongside 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.

NHS trusts reporting Rheumatology waits
TrustRegionWaitingUnder 18 weeksOver 52 weeks
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS TrustSouth East421100%0
Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber22099%0
Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS TrustSouth East49698%0
London North West University Healthcare NHS TrustLondon95398%0
Bristol NHS Foundation TrustSouth West55697%0
Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation TrustNorth West38097%0
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS TrustWest Midlands60096%0
South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation TrustWest Midlands35996%0
George Eliot Hospital NHS TrustWest Midlands27296%0
Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation TrustLondon41496%0
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS TrustSouth West65195%1
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber31795%0
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS TrustWest Midlands58495%0
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation TrustNorth West49795%0
Frimley Health NHS Foundation TrustSouth East53694%0
The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation TrustWest Midlands76194%0
The Rotherham NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber76493%0
Royal Surrey NHS Foundation TrustSouth East29093%0
The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustNorth East74293%0
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS TrustWest Midlands64492%0
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation TrustLondon49092%0
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustSouth West35492%1
University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation TrustEast Midlands1,55492%2
Manchester University NHS Foundation TrustNorth West1,12891%0
Whittington Health NHS TrustLondon29391%0
West Suffolk NHS Foundation TrustEast of England79991%0
Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS TrustSouth East42090%0
East Sussex Healthcare NHS TrustSouth East78890%4
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber46390%0
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustSouth East1,32289%2
Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation TrustNorth West43288%0
University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation TrustSouth West1,23788%0
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation TrustSouth East57987%0
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation TrustWest Midlands1,05087%0
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS TrustEast Midlands47387%0
James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustEast of England59687%0
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS TrustSouth West51987%0
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustEast of England1,85886%0
Imperial College Healthcare NHS TrustLondon61486%0
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation TrustSouth West81985%1
The Dudley Group NHS Foundation TrustWest Midlands86685%0
Gateshead Health NHS Foundation TrustNorth East39485%0
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation TrustNorth East1,16485%0
Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation TrustWest Midlands4,77485%0
Bolton NHS Foundation TrustNorth West61484%0
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustNorth West54784%0
Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustEast of England1,17984%0
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS TrustLondon69683%1
York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber67283%0
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation TrustNorth East55282%0
Wye Valley NHS TrustWest Midlands49982%4
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation TrustLondon1,16081%0
Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS TrustLondon63781%2
Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS TrustYorkshire and The Humber56781%0
Barts Health NHS TrustLondon1,32280%0
Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation TrustEast Midlands34880%4
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation TrustSouth East74180%0
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn, NHS Foundation TrustEast of England59479%1
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation TrustNorth East1,05879%0
Isle of Wight NHS TrustSouth East64979%0
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustNorth West90479%0
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS TrustLondon45778%0
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS TrustLondon1,16278%4
The Royal Wolverhampton NHS TrustWest Midlands1,27078%0
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS TrustSouth East81876%0
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation TrustLondon1,25875%0
St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustLondon1,43674%14
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber97074%1
University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation TrustNorth West94572%10
West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS TrustEast of England1,05271%0
Airedale NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber39771%0
Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation TrustSouth West1,41871%0
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustLondon52270%0
Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber84470%0
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustEast of England1,19770%0
Walsall Healthcare NHS TrustWest Midlands89669%0
Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS TrustYorkshire and The Humber1,11269%2
East Lancashire Hospitals NHS TrustNorth West87868%1
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustNorth West1,06768%0
Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation TrustEast Midlands1,09968%1
Salisbury NHS Foundation TrustSouth West65668%3
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustSouth West1,21767%0
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS TrustNorth West1,51967%12
Northampton General Hospital NHS TrustEast Midlands51467%0
Croydon Health Services NHS TrustLondon1,20866%0
The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS TrustEast of England1,25465%4
North West Anglia NHS Foundation TrustEast of England1,29465%0
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustLondon93564%27
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS TrustYorkshire and The Humber2,11864%0
Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustSouth East39064%0
Somerset NHS Foundation TrustSouth West88862%6
North Bristol NHS TrustSouth West1,21662%0
Stockport NHS Foundation TrustNorth West1,22762%1
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation TrustSouth East1,14861%3
Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation TrustNorth West2,17261%0
Royal Free London NHS Foundation TrustLondon3,15359%1
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustSouth East1,41159%16
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustNorth East1,43059%0
North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation TrustNorth West1,37356%0
East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS TrustEast of England1,28556%0
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation TrustEast of England2,36955%0
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustNorth West1,00554%6
North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation TrustNorth West1,22052%9
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber1,03151%0
Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation TrustNorth West1,29049%100
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation TrustNorth East2,00848%44
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation TrustEast of England2,27348%236
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS TrustEast Midlands4,01048%60
United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS TrustEast Midlands1,84146%125
Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation TrustSouth East1,39845%47
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation TrustSouth East2,97042%52
Medway NHS Foundation TrustSouth East3,33531%289

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

Related pages

All specialties