Check NHS cancer, A&E and operations targets in your area
The NHS is under unprecedented pressure. Rising numbers of patients need hospital care - whether in an accident and emergency department, for cancer treatment or for planned operations and care, such as knee and hip replacements.
For each there are strict targets local services are expected to meet across the UK. But what are the chances of being seen in time where you live? Use our interactive tracker to find out.
Click here to search for your local health trust
How the NHS Tracker works
This guide uses the latest published data on performance against three key NHS waiting-time measures:
· A&E treatment
· cancer care
· planned operations and care, such as knee and hip replacements
This data is currently published either monthly or quarterly depending on where you live in the UK, and there are differences between how the targets are measured in each part of the UK.
The A&E target
The way the A&E target is measured is almost identical. In each case services across the UK are given four hours in which to treat and discharge or admit or transfer a patient.
They are all expected to do that in 95% of cases, although ultimately Scotland wants it services to get to 98% once 95% is achieved. There are also slight differences in the way the start time is measured.
The cancer target
There are similarities in the way cancer care is measured. Each expects patients to be treated within 62 days of an urgent referral.
In Scotland this can be following a GP or A&E referral or following a screening test.
Elsewhere it is broken down individually by referral route. So for the rest of the UK the BBC has chosen GP referral as the area to focus on as this is the most common route. Again the thresholds services are expected to achieve vary.
The planned operations and care target
The one that varies the most is for planned hospital care, which is also known as non-emergency treatment.
In England, Wales and Scotland the target measures the point at which you get a referral from your GP to the point when your treatment starts - in effect the whole patient journey.
In Scotland and England services have 18 weeks, in Wales it is 26 weeks.
Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland there are a range of targets for different parts of the patient journey. The BBC has chosen the last part, from when the decision is taken to admit the patient for treatment to when that treatment starts. It therefore does not include the tests and appointments that follow a GP referral, which can take weeks or even months. Services in Northern Ireland have 13 weeks to achieve this target.
The thresholds vary too. None is expected to achieve these goals 100% of the time. In Northern Ireland services have to achieve the target in 55% of cases, whereas in Wales it is 95%, in England 92%, and in Scotland 90%.
How local is defined
In England data is provided down to individual hospital trust level, some of these run more than one hospital. The BBC has excluded specialist trusts for cancer, children's care, women's services and orthopaedic treatment and instead focused on the 135 general hospital trusts - what most people would consider their local service.
Elsewhere performance is broken down to health board level, known as health and care trusts in Northern Ireland. They are in charge of services for a region or large city and often run more than one hospital.
We have chosen these boards because while some data is provided down to individual hospital level it is not done across all three targets.
How far back performance is tracked
The BBC has tracked back performance to the point at which the latest target was set or to when the records allow.
When a target has been missed for five years, we have just labelled it as that.
When targets have been hit more recently, we have provided the month they were last hit.
There are only two targets where it has not been possible to go back five years:
in Scotland for A&E as the target threshold was reduced from 98% to 95% in October 2014
in Northern Ireland for planned operations and care because its 13-week target threshold of 55% was set only in April 2016
The full list of dates from which the performance of local services is available are:
For England:
A&E: June 2010
Cancer: January 2009
Planned operations: April 2012
For Northern Ireland:
A&E: April 2008
Cancer: April 2009
Planned operations: April-June 2016
For Scotland:
A&E: October 2014
Cancer: January 2012
Planned operations: January 2011
For Wales:
A&E: October 2009
Cancer: October-December 2009
Planned operations: September 2011
Research by the BBC data team, Ransome Mpini, John Walton, Christine Jeavans, Nick Triggle and William Dahlgreen. Design by Sumi Senthinathan. Development by Chris Ashton, Evisa Terziu, Becky Rush and Alvin Ourrad.
