NHS England's May 2026 RTT release shows 7.3 million treatments waiting, a median wait of 12.4 weeks, and 1 in 12 people waiting 38.6 weeks or more. Over 105,000 people have waited more than a year. Specialty medians range from 9.3 weeks (mental health) to 16.0 weeks (oral surgery).
- ✓The waiting list stands at 7.3 million treatments as of May 2026.
- ✓Median wait is 12.4 weeks — but 1 in 12 wait 38.6 weeks or more.
- ✓More than 105,000 people have been waiting over a year.
The four numbers to know
NHS England's May 2026 referral-to-treatment (RTT) statistics, published 9 July 2026, are best read as four numbers rather than one. The headline is the list size: 7.3 million treatments waiting. But the list size counts pathways, not people, and it moves slowly. The numbers that describe what waiting actually feels like are the median, the tail and the year-waiters.
- 7.3 million treatments waiting. The overall size of the RTT list — some people appear more than once if they're waiting for more than one thing.
- 12.4 weeks median wait. Half of everyone on the list has waited less than this, half longer.
- 1 in 12 waiting 38.6+ weeks. The 92nd percentile — the long tail behind the median.
- 105,000+ waiting over a year. The group the 18-week standard was designed to make impossible.
Waits by specialty: where the queue is longest
The national median hides big differences between specialties. Surgical specialties — trauma and orthopaedics, ENT, oral surgery — carry the longest routine waits, because they depend on theatre capacity and often on diagnostics first. Here are the May 2026 medians:
| Specialty | Median wait (May 2026) |
|---|---|
| Oral surgery | 16.0 weeks |
| ENT | 14.8 weeks |
| Trauma & orthopaedics | 14.1 weeks |
| Neurology | 14.0 weeks |
| Gynaecology | 13.9 weeks |
| General surgery | 13.3 weeks |
| Urology | 12.7 weeks |
| Cardiology | 12.1 weeks |
| Gastroenterology | 11.8 weeks |
| Dermatology | 11.3 weeks |
| Ophthalmology | 10.2 weeks |
| Mental health | 9.3 weeks |
And the tails are longer still: in trauma and orthopaedics, 1 in 12 patients has already waited 41.8 weeks or more. If you want the full picture of how these figures are measured, our waiting times hub tracks them month by month.
What changed — and what the headlines got wrong
Most coverage of each monthly release focuses on whether the 7.3 million figure nudged up or down. That's understandable but not very informative: the list can shrink while waits lengthen (if fewer people are referred) or grow while waits shorten (if referrals recover faster than treatment). The more telling movements are in the distribution — the median, the 92nd percentile and the year-plus count.
The May 2026 data continues the pattern of recent months: a broadly stable list, a median hovering around three months, and a stubborn long tail. Roughly 1 in 12 people on the list have waited more than 38.6 weeks — well over double the 18-week standard — and the 105,000+ year-waiters remain concentrated in surgical specialties where theatre time, not clinic time, is the constraint.
Waiting longer than you'd like?
What this means if you're on the list
A median of 12.4 weeks means a typical routine pathway takes about three months from referral to treatment — but 'typical' is doing a lot of work. Your realistic range depends on your specialty, your trust and whether your pathway includes diagnostics. If you're facing a long wait, you generally have options: asking about choice of provider at referral, checking whether your employer offers health cover, or comparing self-pay and insurance routes. Private timelines are typically a consultation within days, diagnostics in one to two weeks and routine surgery in two to six weeks — indicative, not guaranteed.
We'll update this analysis when NHS England publishes the June 2026 data in August. The waiting times hub has the running series.
Frequently asked questions
What did the May 2026 NHS waiting times data show?
The May 2026 RTT release (published 9 July 2026) showed 7.3 million treatments waiting, a median wait of 12.4 weeks, 1 in 12 people waiting 38.6 weeks or more, and over 105,000 people waiting more than a year. Surgical specialties carry the longest medians, led by oral surgery at 16.0 weeks.
Is the NHS waiting list 7.3 million people in May 2026?
Not quite — it's 7.3 million treatment pathways. Some people are waiting for more than one thing, so the number of individuals is somewhat lower. It's still the standard headline measure, but the median wait and the long tail tell you more about the experience of waiting.
Which specialty had the longest waits in May 2026?
By median wait, oral surgery (16.0 weeks), ENT (14.8) and trauma & orthopaedics (14.1) were longest in the May 2026 data. The tails are worse: 1 in 12 trauma & orthopaedics patients had waited 41.8 weeks or more. Ophthalmology (10.2) and mental health (9.3) had the shortest medians.
How many people have waited over a year in the May 2026 figures?
More than 105,000 people had waited over 52 weeks in the May 2026 RTT data. These long waits are concentrated in surgical specialties where operating-theatre capacity is the bottleneck, and they persist despite the 18-week constitutional standard.
When is the next NHS waiting times release after May 2026?
NHS England publishes RTT data monthly, around six weeks in arrears — the May 2026 figures came out on 9 July 2026, and June 2026 data is due in mid-August. Our waiting times hub tracks each release as it lands.