Waiting Times

According to RTT data, there were 381,294 patients waiting for their NHS-funded treatment with an independent sector provider at the end of February 2024, compared with 7.16 million waiting with NHS providers. Among patients who completed their RTT pathway in February, patients seen in the IS had waited an average of 12 weeks – compared with an average of 19 weeks for those seen by NHS providers.

The newly-published WLMDS dataset gives an indication of the distribution of waiting times among patients who are still waiting to be treated. Some 72% of patients waiting to be treated at an independent sector provider have been waiting for less than 18 weeks, compared to 55% of NHS patients. Just 1.5% of independent sector patients have been waiting more than one year, compared with 4% of NHS-provider patient waiting lists.