Royal United Hospitals Bath recorded 16 trauma and orthopaedic pathways waiting more than a year at the end of September 2026, down from 90 a year earlier. In Bristol, the newly merged NHS trust recorded 94, up from 73 in August. NHS England’s figures cover each trust’s full orthopaedic waiting list.
Bath’s waits over a year fell by 82%
The number of pathways waiting more than 52 weeks at Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust fell from 25 in August to 16 in September. A year earlier, the trust recorded 90. The overall list shrank by 68 pathways in September, from 2,696 to 2,628. It remained 524 pathways (24.9%) larger than in September 2025.
At the end of September, 68.7% of Bath’s open pathways had been waiting 18 weeks or less, compared with 68.8% in August and 51.7% a year earlier.
Bristol’s orthopaedic list grew in September
Bristol NHS Foundation Trust had 8,768 open pathways at the end of September, up from 8,452 in August, an increase of 316 (3.7%). The number waiting more than 52 weeks rose from 73 to 94, and the share within 18 weeks fell from 62.6% to 60.7%.
The trust was formed on 1 July 2026, bringing together North Bristol NHS Trust and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust. In September 2025, the two predecessor trusts reported 7,088 open pathways between them, with 67.9% within 18 weeks and one pathway waiting more than 52 weeks. Those figures give a pre-merger baseline from two reporting organisations. The August to September comparison uses the same merged trust in both months.
How Bath and Bristol compared with England
England recorded 830,089 open trauma and orthopaedic pathways in September, down 1.6% from August and 3.6% year on year. The share within 18 weeks was 61.4%, compared with 68.7% in Bath and 60.7% at the Bristol trust. The share waiting over a year was 2.4% across England, 0.6% in Bath and 1.1% at the Bristol trust.
| Trust or area | Month | Open pathways | Within 18 weeks | Over 52 weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal United Hospitals Bath | September 2026 | 2,628 | 68.7% | 16 |
| Royal United Hospitals Bath | August 2026 | 2,696 | 68.8% | 25 |
| Royal United Hospitals Bath | September 2025 | 2,104 | 51.7% | 90 |
| Bristol NHS Foundation Trust | September 2026 | 8,768 | 60.7% | 94 |
| Bristol NHS Foundation Trust | August 2026 | 8,452 | 62.6% | 73 |
| Bristol’s two predecessor trusts combined | September 2025 | 7,088 | 67.9% | 1 |
| England | September 2026 | 830,089 | 61.4% | 19,769 |
| England | August 2026 | 843,419 | 61.1% | 19,741 |
| England | September 2025 | 860,865 | 59.7% | 26,590 |
What the figures cover
Transform Medical used NHS England’s incomplete referral-to-treatment tables for trauma and orthopaedics (C_110). We used the provider rows for Royal United Hospitals Bath (RD1) and Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (RA7), and the national row in the commissioner tables for England. For Bristol’s September 2025 baseline, we added the pathway counts for North Bristol (RVJ) and University Hospitals Bristol and Weston (RA7) in the revised release. We divided their combined count within 18 weeks by their combined total.
The figures count pathways still open at month-end. One person can have more than one pathway. The trust figures cover all reporting sites, including Weston within the Bristol trust, and a range of orthopaedic conditions and treatments. Individual waits for hip or knee replacement can vary.
Sources — September 2026 provider table, September 2026 England table, August 2026 tables, revised September 2025 tables and NHS England’s Bristol merger record.