Data methodology
WaitAtlas is built to be useful and honest. Every wait-time figure we publish is an estimate, drawn from public information and clearly labelled with how confident we are in it and when it was last checked.
Wait times are estimates, not promises.
Our figures are drawn from publicly available data and provider statements. Real waits depend on your referral, the provider's current caseload, and clinical factors that we cannot see.
Where the data comes from
We combine five complementary sources so that no single channel shapes the picture on its own.
Published NHS waiting-time statistics and ICB-level performance data, refreshed on a regular schedule.
Public pages from NHS trusts, Right to Choose providers and private clinics that publish current wait times.
FOI requests we submit to trusts and providers, plus FOI disclosures published elsewhere.
Our team reads provider documents, referral packs and clinical commissioning notices and records the figures by hand.
Anonymised reports from people who have recently been referred. We treat these as signals, not facts, until corroborated.
Data confidence
Every record has a data confidence rating from 0 to 100. A higher rating means we have stronger evidence — for example, an official NHS dataset recently confirmed by a provider page. A lower score means the figure is older, comes from a single source, or relies on user reports.
- 80–100: Strong, recent, multi-source evidence.
- 60–79: Reasonable evidence from a credible source, but not fully cross-checked.
- Below 60: Low-confidence estimate — please check directly with the provider.
Last verified date
Every record carries the date we last confirmed it against its source. If a record has not been verified for more than 30 days, we flag it as not verified recently so you can decide whether to rely on it.
How we flag uncertainty
Search results and provider pages show clear badges when a record is:
- below 60 confidence (Low confidence estimate),
- older than 30 days since last verification (Not verified recently),
- missing a key field such as provider, ICB, or source URL.
Flagged records are still shown — we believe partial information is better than none — but we make the uncertainty visible.
Wait times change
Provider capacity, referral patterns and commissioning arrangements shift from week to week. A figure that was accurate yesterday may not be accurate today. We refresh data on a regular schedule, but there will always be a gap between reality and what we can publish.
Please verify before you decide
WaitAtlas is a guide, not a clinical service. Before you act on any figure you see here, confirm it directly with:
- your GP,
- the NHS service responsible for your area, or
- the provider you are considering.