90% of patients admitted to Hospital should have a Referral to Treatment period of less than 18 Weeks from receipt of referral.

Prior to 2008, patients were waiting unnecessary lengths of time for their treatment. For example a patient who required a new hip may have been on a waiting list for three years and more before they received their treatment. The reason for this was because there was no emphasis on booking patients in chronological order of their referral or clinical urgency which includes patients with suspected Cancer or those who require an urgent appointment.  The Government decided that 90% of all patients whose treatment requires either a day case or longer in Hospital must be treated within 18 Weeks of their referral date.

An 18 Week RTT pathway is completed on the day the patient is admitted for the first definitive treatment or is discharged from the care of the Hospital.

n.b. this Standard is going to be removed from the Rules and we will update the website to reflect this when it is appropriate to do so.