NHS waiting times · Ear, Nose & Throat
Glue ear NHS waiting times by trust
Glue ear is done by ear, nose and throat, where the typical NHS wait is about 25 weeks: half of patients wait less, half longer. It varies a lot by hospital.
This is the wait for the whole ear, nose and throat specialty, not glue ear on its own: the NHS doesn’t publish waits for single procedures.
Updated August 2026 · (Referral to Treatment: the NHS wait-time framework)
Get your free companion dashboard for glue ear to support you through your journey: the faster hospitals near you and every option, compared.
Get your free companion dashboard→| Trust | Location | Typical wait |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust | Reading | 4 weeks |
| Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Cheshire West and Chester | 7 weeks |
| United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Lincoln | 7 weeks |
| Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust | Wiltshire | 8 weeks |
| South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Middlesbrough | 9 weeks |
| Stockport NHS Foundation Trust | Stockport | 9 weeks |
| Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Barnsley | 10 weeks |
| Isle of Wight NHS Trust | Isle of Wight | 10 weeks |
| University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust | Southampton | 10 weeks |
| Bristol NHS Foundation Trust | Bristol, City of | 10 weeks |
| Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Bradford | 11 weeks |
| Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust | Surrey Heath | 12 weeks |
| Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Liverpool | 12 weeks |
| Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Luton | 13 weeks |
| King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Lambeth | 13 weeks |
| Bolton NHS Foundation Trust | Bolton | 14 weeks |
| Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Preston | 15 weeks |
| The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Newcastle upon Tyne | 16 weeks |
| Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust | Tameside | 16 weeks |
| Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust | North East Lincolnshire | 16 weeks |
| Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust | Lambeth | 16 weeks |
| North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust | Cumberland | 16 weeks |
| Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Knowsley | 17 weeks |
| University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Camden | 17 weeks |
| Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust | Maidstone | 18 weeks |
| South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust | Sunderland | 18 weeks |
| East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust | Hastings | 18 weeks |
| University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 18 weeks |
| St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Wandsworth | 19 weeks |
| Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Wirral | 20 weeks |
| Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust | Reigate and Banstead | 20 weeks |
| County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust | Darlington | 20 weeks |
| Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust | Cornwall | 21 weeks |
| University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust | Derby | 21 weeks |
| University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust | Westmorland and Furness | 22 weeks |
| Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust | Sandwell | 22 weeks |
| University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust | Stoke-on-Trent | 22 weeks |
| Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Doncaster | 22 weeks |
| North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust | Warrington | 23 weeks |
| Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Milton Keynes | 23 weeks |
| Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust | Wakefield | 23 weeks |
| The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust | Shropshire | 23 weeks |
| Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust | Sutton | 23 weeks |
| Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Ashfield | 24 weeks |
| Medway NHS Foundation Trust | Medway | 24 weeks |
| Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust | Buckinghamshire | 25 weeks |
| University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust | Birmingham | 25 weeks |
| Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust | Guildford | 25 weeks |
| Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Basingstoke and Deane | 26 weeks |
| Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Dorset | 26 weeks |
| Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Cambridge | 26 weeks |
| Somerset NHS Foundation Trust | Somerset | 27 weeks |
| Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust | Bath and North East Somerset | 27 weeks |
| Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Kingston upon Hull, City of | 27 weeks |
| Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust | Salford | 27 weeks |
| University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | Coventry | 27 weeks |
| Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | Exeter | 27 weeks |
| East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust | Blackburn with Darwen | 27 weeks |
| London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust | Brent | 28 weeks |
| North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust | Peterborough | 28 weeks |
| West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust | West Suffolk | 29 weeks |
| Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust | Nottingham | 29 weeks |
| Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Cheltenham | 29 weeks |
| University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust | Worthing | 29 weeks |
| Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust | Manchester | 30 weeks |
| South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust | Warwick | 30 weeks |
| The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn, NHS Foundation Trust | King's Lynn and West Norfolk | 31 weeks |
| University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust | Leicester | 31 weeks |
| Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust | Camden | 33 weeks |
| Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust | Kirklees | 34 weeks |
| Wye Valley NHS Trust | Herefordshire, County of | 34 weeks |
| Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Blackpool | 35 weeks |
| Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | North Northamptonshire | 35 weeks |
| Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | South Norfolk | 36 weeks |
| York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | York | 36 weeks |
| Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust | Westminster | 37 weeks |
| Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Swindon | 37 weeks |
| Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Runnymede | 37 weeks |
| The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust | Dudley | 38 weeks |
| Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust | Walsall | 38 weeks |
| Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust | Portsmouth | 39 weeks |
| Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Oxford | 39 weeks |
| Barts Health NHS Trust | Tower Hamlets | 40 weeks |
| Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust | Worcester | 40 weeks |
| The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust | Harlow | 40 weeks |
| The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust | Wolverhampton | 40 weeks |
| Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Leeds | 41 weeks |
| Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust | Havering | 42 weeks |
| East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust | Stevenage | 42 weeks |
| James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Great Yarmouth | 42 weeks |
| Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Chesterfield | 43 weeks |
| Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | Hackney | 46 weeks |
| Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust | Lewisham | 47 weeks |
| East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust | Canterbury | 47 weeks |
| East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust | Colchester | 47 weeks |
| Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust | Southend-on-Sea | 49 weeks |
| Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust | Kingston upon Thames | 50 weeks |
| Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | Kensington and Chelsea | 52 weeks |
| Croydon Health Services NHS Trust | Croydon | 52 weeks |
| The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust | Rotherham | 52 weeks |
| Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Wigan | 58 weeks |
| West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Watford | 59 weeks |
102 NHS trusts, ranked by wait, from the admitted RTT pathway for August 2026. We show only acute trusts with a confident sample size, so a small-volume or community service can't distort the ranking. 5 trusts were set aside for too few patients to be reliable.
Larger trusts run several hospitals, sometimes miles apart. The NHS publishes one wait for the whole trust, not a separate figure per hospital, so the location shown is the trust's main registered site: your care could be at another of its hospitals.
About glue ear
Glue ear is a build-up of fluid deep inside the ear, in the space behind the eardrum called the middle ear. It is very common in young children, though it can affect adults too.
Read more about glue ear and what treatment involves →