Website of the Department of Health

NHS inpatient and outpatient waiting times figures, 31 August 2008

The latest monthly national statistics on NHS inpatient and outpatient waitings times produced by the Department of Health were released on 26 September 2008 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

NHS inpatient and outpatient waiting times figures for the month ending 31 August 2008 include data for England, Strategic Health Authorities, and NHS Trusts.

The key points from the latest release are:

Inpatient waiting times

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over the 26 weeks standard for inpatient admission at the end of August 2008 was 41 (compared to the total of 547,000).
• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over 13 weeks at the end of August 2008 was 40,800, an increase of 1,300 (3.4%) from July 2008, but a fall of 38,800 (48.7%) from August 2007.

Outpatient waiting times

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over the 13 weeks standard for a first outpatient appointment following GP referral at the end of August 2008 was 326 (compared to the total of 889,000). Of these 326, 79 were English residents waiting for appointments in Welsh hospitals.
• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over 8 weeks at the end of August 2008 was 49,600, an increase of 14,600 (41.6%) from July 2008, but a fall of 20,000 (28.7%) from August 2007.

• Download full release (PDF, 48K)
• Additional tables are available here, which include revised data for April 2007 to June 2008 (opens new window)