Sciatica · Canterbury · Trauma and orthopaedics

Sciatica waiting time at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

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weeks

Actual referral-to-treatment wait in July 2026.

NHS RTT data, July 2026

See all your options, not just the wait.

1Free on the NHS

Stay where you are

No change, you keep your current place. 41 wks 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 sciatica

Sciatica is pain caused by irritation or pressure on the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower back down through the buttock and into each leg.

Get your free wait-or-pay dashboard for sciatica: the faster hospitals near you and every option, compared.

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More about East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

How long people have been waiting

3,580

4,513

0 to 18 wks

Over 18 wks

People on the trauma and orthopaedics waiting list now, split by whether they have passed the 18-week target, July 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 Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust the typical MRI wait is 6 wks, with 48% waiting over six weeks (July 2026).

See the full MRI queue at Kent & Canterbury Hospital and faster scan alternatives

NHS hospitals near Canterbury

Kent & Canterbury Hospital (current)

0 mi

41 wks

Medway NHS Foundation Trust · Medway

25 mi

32 wks

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust · Maidstone

26 mi

21 wks

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust · Hastings

35 mi

28 wks

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust · Colchester

45 mi

38 wks

Croydon Health Services NHS Trust · Croydon

52 mi

22 wks

Barts Health NHS Trust · Tower Hamlets

52 mi

28 wks

Weeks waited by patients treated in July 2026, whole specialty, straight-line from this hospital. Switching does not guarantee a shorter wait.

Every NHS trust ranked by sciatica wait Sciatica: NHS vs private What sciatica costs privately All trauma and orthopaedics waits at Kent & Canterbury Hospital Every specialty's wait at Kent & Canterbury Hospital All NHS waiting times

How we know this

NHS RTT data, July 2026.

Trauma and orthopaedics as a whole, not sciatica alone.

Wait or Pay is independent and is not the NHS. We show the routes and let you choose. Nothing here is medical advice.

How long will you really wait, and how could you go sooner?

Your free dashboard compares all four paths for sciatica: wait, switch to a faster NHS hospital, part-private, or fully private. It names the faster hospitals near you, shows what going private would cost, and gives you letters ready to send. You can print it or save it as a PDF. Free, and nothing is locked or paid.

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