Meniscus surgery · Colchester · Trauma and orthopaedics
Meniscus surgery waiting time at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
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weeks
Actual referral-to-treatment wait in August 2026.
NHS RTT data, August 2026
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1Free on the NHS
Stay where you are
No change, you keep your current place. 30 weeks typical wait here.
2Free on the NHS
Switch NHS hospital
Right to Choose lets you ask to be treated at a different NHS hospital.
3Part paid
Part-private, keep your NHS place
Pay for a scan or a first appointment to move sooner, and keep your NHS place.
4Self funded or insured
Go private
Private treatment, self funded or through insurance. Prices vary by clinic.
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About meniscus tear
The menisci are two C-shaped pads of cartilage inside the knee that act as shock absorbers. A tear can happen suddenly, often from twisting the knee, or develop gradually through wear with age.
Read more about meniscus surgery and what treatment involves →More about East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
How long people have been waiting
5,581
5,110
0 to 18 weeks
Over 18 weeks
People on the trauma and orthopaedics waiting list now, split by whether they have passed the 18-week target, August 2026. Whole specialty.
Before treatment: the MRI queue
An MRI scan is one of the scans often used before treatment, and it is a separate NHS queue. At East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust the typical MRI wait is 3 weeks, with 32% waiting over six weeks (August 2026).
See the full MRI queue at Colchester General Hospital and faster scan alternativesNHS hospitals near Colchester
Colchester General Hospital (current)
0 mi
30 weeks
The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust · Harlow
36 mi
30 weeks
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust · Cambridge
37 mi
26 weeks
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust · Maidstone
47 mi
21 weeks
Whittington Health NHS Trust · Islington
50 mi
27 weeks
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust · Camden
52 mi
16 weeks
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust · Lambeth
52 mi
26 weeks
Weeks waited by patients treated in August 2026, whole specialty, straight-line from this hospital. Switching does not guarantee a shorter wait.
How we know this
NHS RTT data, August 2026.
Trauma and orthopaedics as a whole, not meniscus surgery alone.
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