At a glance: 37,368 people were waiting for NHS treatment at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals in June 2026, spread across 14 specialties, and 772 of them had already waited more than a year. The hardest specialty to be seen quickly was general surgery — only 46% of patients seen within the 18-week target and a median wait of 20 weeks — while ophthalmology was quickest at 85%.
Treatment waiting times at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals
| Specialty | People waiting | Seen within 18 weeks | Waiting over a year | Median wait |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General surgery | 2,041 | 46% | 140 | 20 weeks |
| ENT | 4,922 | 52% | 213 | 17 weeks |
| Gastroenterology | 4,419 | 54% | 107 | 16 weeks |
| Trauma & orthopaedics | 8,977 | 62% | 164 | 13 weeks |
| Oral surgery | 1,381 | 62% | 27 | 13 weeks |
| Cardiology | 2,970 | 63% | 0 | 13 weeks |
| Gynaecology | 2,986 | 63% | 68 | 12 weeks |
| Dermatology | 2,856 | 65% | 3 | 11 weeks |
| Elderly medicine | 329 | 67% | 0 | 13 weeks |
| Urology | 1,883 | 68% | 45 | 11 weeks |
| Respiratory medicine | 1,952 | 68% | 0 | 11 weeks |
| General medicine | 172 | 75% | 0 | 11 weeks |
| Rheumatology | 904 | 79% | 0 | 9 weeks |
| Ophthalmology | 1,576 | 85% | 5 | 6 weeks |
Diagnostic test waiting times at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals
| Test | People waiting | Waiting beyond 6 weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Echocardiography | 1,317 | 27% |
| CT | 1,098 | 25% |
| Audiology | 258 | 14% |
| Flexible sigmoidoscopy | 52 | 12% |
| Gastroscopy | 186 | 12% |
| Ultrasound | 2,530 | 8% |
| Colonoscopy | 184 | 7% |
| Cystoscopy | 67 | 4% |
| MRI | 2,161 | 2% |
| DEXA scan | 177 | 1% |
The six-week point is where the NHS counts a diagnostic wait as a breach; at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals the longest was echocardiography, with 27% past it and 1,317 people in the queue.
Skip the 20-week wait
Waiting 20 weeks for general surgery at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals is a long time to be in pain or limbo. A self-pay hernia repair costs around £3,668, 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 Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching 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 general surgery 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.