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Hey Bath · Health and care

RUH waiting list reaches highest level in two years

By Hey Bath Newsdesk Published

In short

The RUH's waiting list has reached 43,165, the highest of the 24 monthly figures, even as the longest waits fall.

The RUH's waiting list reached 43,165 in August 2026, the highest of the 24 monthly figures available. Those figures range from 37,976 to 43,165. The latest figures for planned treatment are for August 2026.

That compares with 39,349 in August 2025 and 41,031 in July 2026, so the list is higher than a year ago and higher than the month before.

Waits of more than 52 weeks fell to 154, compared with 761 a year earlier. Across the series they range from 133 to 1,017.

New waiting periods started at the RUH rose to 10,766 in August, compared with 8,589 a year earlier.

The monthly figures run to August 2026, the latest available. The hospital serves patients beyond Bath and North East Somerset, so the list is not a count of local residents alone. A waiting list counts incomplete pathways, not individual patients. A record total and a fall in very long waits can both be true.

What happens next

The RUH's waiting times for planned treatment are published by NHS England, and the latest figures cover August 2026.

How this was written

Written by Hey Bath from public records with an AI writing tool, then checked against them.

Sources: RUH waiting times for planned treatment (NHS England RTT).

Checked .

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