Colonoscopy
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was between referral for and receipt of a colonoscopy in each trust in each year between 2020 and 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth
Data is not held centrally on the average waiting time between referral for and receipt of a colonoscopy in each National Health Service trust, each year between 2020 and 2024.
Data is published on the median waiting times nationally for colonoscopies. The median waiting times value represents the point at which 50% of people have been in the waiting list for more than this value, and 50% of people have been in the waiting list, waiting less than this value. It does not directly capture the time from the referral to the test.
The following table shows the median waiting time measured in weeks, in August, which is the latest published month of data, each year from 2020 to 2024.
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
Median waiting time | 8.5 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 3.1 |
Source: monthly activity and waiting list data for diagnostics is published by NHS England, and is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/monthly-diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/
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