New research has revealed the 10 UK locations where residents are waiting the longest time for general surgery at NHS Trust Hospitals, and one of them is in Lancashire.

The average waiting time for general surgery at Royal Preston Hospital is currently around 45 weeks, this is compared to Oxford, where people wait on average just five weeks for general surgery. 

Health experts at FROM MARS revealed the UK locations with the longest hospital waiting times, and to do that, the 50 most populated UK cities were compared based on their number of hospitals, number of sexual health clinics, average waiting time for general surgery, and number of hospitals in Newsweek’s top 50 UK hospitals.

You can view the full research here.

Top 10 UK location with the longest surgery waiting times are as follows, from left to right: rank; location; average waiting time (weeks)

1; Belfast; 67

2; Southend-on-Sea; 62

2; Ipswich; 62

3; Birkenhead; 61

3; Liverpool; 61

4; Leicester; 53

5; Stoke-on-Trent; 51

6; Wigan; 46

6; Manchester; 46

7; Preston; 45

The research revealed that Belfast had the longest waiting times, where patients would wait on average around 67 weeks for surgery. 

Liverpool and Birkenhead and Wigan and Manchester came joint third and sixth with average waiting times of 61 weeks and 46 weeks respectively.

The average waiting time for surgery for someone living in Preston was just under a year at 45 weeks.

Analysis also revealed that people living in Oxford are currently waiting around five weeks for general surgery at NHS Trust hospitals, which is the shortest waiting time in the country.

You can view the full research here.