NHS waiting lists near 6m as winter approaches - the NHS trusts with the longest waiting lists

Almost six million people were on waiting lists for non-urgent NHS treatment at the end of September 2021, up 34% on the same period last year.

There are 5,834,421 people on NHS waiting lists according to the most recent NHS England data.

The figures show that the NHS is not meeting its target of making sure that more than 92% of patients on waiting lists should be waiting no more than 18 weeks from referral.

At the end of September 2021, 66.5% of patients waiting to start treatment were waiting up to 18 weeks.

More than 300,000 patients have been on a waiting list for more than a year as of September 2021, according to NHS England data.

The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS foundation trust had the highest average wait time, of more than 22 weeks, followed by Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, at 18.4 weeks.

Discounting the ‘other’ category which includes a broad mix of treatment types ranging from mental health and paediatric services, the types of treatment service with the highest waiting lists are Trauma and Orthopaedic, Ophthalmology, and Ear, Nose and Throat.

Here are the NHS trusts with the highest waiting lists as of September 2021: