At a glance: 33,351 people were waiting for NHS treatment at Royal Cornwall Hospitals in June 2026, spread across 14 specialties, and 433 of them had already waited more than a year. The hardest specialty to be seen quickly was trauma & orthopaedics — only 49% of patients seen within the 18-week target and a median wait of 18 weeks — while rheumatology was quickest at 95%.
Treatment waiting times at Royal Cornwall Hospitals
| Specialty | People waiting | Seen within 18 weeks | Waiting over a year | Median wait |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trauma & orthopaedics | 5,624 | 49% | 330 | 18 weeks |
| General surgery | 1,989 | 60% | 22 | 13 weeks |
| Urology | 1,780 | 60% | 2 | 13 weeks |
| Cardiology | 2,655 | 64% | 15 | 13 weeks |
| Gynaecology | 3,293 | 65% | 28 | 12 weeks |
| Oral surgery | 2,368 | 74% | 9 | 9 weeks |
| ENT | 3,323 | 78% | 17 | 9 weeks |
| Respiratory medicine | 619 | 80% | 0 | 7 weeks |
| Ophthalmology | 3,897 | 81% | 9 | 7 weeks |
| Dermatology | 3,574 | 86% | 0 | 5 weeks |
| Gastroenterology | 2,376 | 90% | 0 | 4 weeks |
| Neurology | 917 | 90% | 0 | 7 weeks |
| Elderly medicine | 285 | 92% | 0 | 6 weeks |
| Rheumatology | 651 | 95% | 1 | 6 weeks |
Diagnostic test waiting times at Royal Cornwall Hospitals
| Test | People waiting | Waiting beyond 6 weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Sleep studies | 510 | 57% |
| Echocardiography | 1,080 | 56% |
| Nerve conduction studies | 570 | 49% |
| Colonoscopy | 660 | 28% |
| Cystoscopy | 225 | 23% |
| Gastroscopy | 491 | 22% |
| Audiology | 92 | 8% |
| Urodynamics | 111 | 8% |
| MRI | 2,739 | 5% |
| Ultrasound | 1,357 | 3% |
| Flexible sigmoidoscopy | 119 | 3% |
| DEXA scan | 254 | 1% |
| CT | 1,080 | 0% |
The six-week point is where the NHS counts a diagnostic wait as a breach; at Royal Cornwall Hospitals the longest was sleep studies, with 57% past it and 510 people in the queue.
Skip the 18-week wait
Waiting 18 weeks for trauma & orthopaedics at Royal Cornwall Hospitals is a long time to be in pain or limbo. A self-pay hip replacement costs around £16,225, and private medical insurance covers treatment like it in full — usually within weeks, not months. It will not pay for a condition you are already waiting on, so it only helps if arranged before a problem starts — compare cover, see whether it is worth it, or get a free quote now.
Frequently asked questions
Can private cover skip the waiting list at Royal Cornwall Hospitals? Yes for a new problem, no for one you are already waiting to have treated — here is what private cover gets you over the NHS. For the national picture see trauma & orthopaedics waits across England or our NHS waiting-time guides.
Source: NHS England Referral to Treatment (RTT) and Diagnostics (DM01) waiting-times statistics, June 2026; self-pay figures from UK private hospitals’ own published price lists. Waiting-list figures change monthly.