Live A&E Waiting Times by Region

The East of England spans Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. The region is anchored by Addenbrooke's in Cambridge — a regional Major Trauma Centre — alongside large district general hospitals serving rural and commuter populations.

London has one of the largest concentrations of major A&E departments in Europe, with type 1 emergency departments at flagship teaching hospitals across all four quadrants of the capital. Waiting times here are typically among the highest in England because of population density and visitor numbers.

The NHS England Midlands region — covering the East Midlands, West Midlands, Birmingham and the Black Country — is one of the largest by population. It includes some of the busiest type 1 A&E departments in the country, including Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and the Royal Stoke.

The North West includes Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Merseyside, Lancashire and Cumbria. It is home to several of England's largest acute trusts, regional Major Trauma Centres, and specialist children's A&E services.

A&E in Northern Ireland is delivered by Health and Social Care (HSC) Northern Ireland through five regional Trusts. Major emergency departments include the Royal Victoria Hospital and Ulster Hospital in Belfast, Altnagelvin in Londonderry, and Antrim Area Hospital.

A&E in Scotland is delivered by NHS Scotland through 14 territorial Health Boards, with major emergency departments at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. Scotland operates its own A&E targets and statistical publications.

The South East is England's most populous region outside London, with type 1 A&E departments serving more than 9 million people across Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Coastal trusts often see seasonal spikes in summer.

The South West covers Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire — a large geographic region with relatively few major A&E sites. That means longer travel times for patients in rural areas, and pronounced summer-tourism pressure on coastal A&Es.

A&E in Wales is delivered by NHS Wales through seven Local Health Boards, with major emergency departments in Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham and Bangor. Welsh A&E waiting time targets and reporting are slightly different from NHS England's, so figures here are not always directly comparable.