X-ray UK: NHS waits and private options
Plain-film diagnostic imaging, commonly used for bones, joints, chest and dental referral checks. NHS England publishes no referral-to-treatment wait covering this procedure. No major private hospital group publishes a quotable price for this procedure.
NHS England publishes no referral-to-treatment waiting time covering x-ray.
According to TreatCompare analysis of price lists published by Nuffield Health, Ramsay Health Care UK and Spire Healthcare, none of them publishes a quotable price for private x-ray.
NHS England RTT waiting times, incomplete pathways, August 2026; Nuffield Health, Ramsay Health Care UK and Spire Healthcare published price lists.
Important context
NHS waiting-time figures are published at trust or specialty level. Private prices are read from individual hospitals’ own published price lists and cover a few named hospital groups rather than the whole private market; each operator defines its own inclusions, so their figures are shown separately and not averaged. Local eligibility, referral route, clinical urgency, provider package and insurance status can change the real-world choice. TreatCompare is for comparison only and is not medical, legal or financial advice.
- Source type
- Official NHS waiting-time data and published private hospital prices
- Primary source
- NHS England Referral to Treatment waiting-time data
- Reporting period
- August 2026
- Last updated
- 2026-10-30
- Figure type
- Mixed sources
- Use
- Research and comparison only
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X-ray: how each route pays
| Route | What it covers | Wait | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NHS | Not applicable | Not publishedNHS England publishes no England wait that covers this | Free of charge, apart from limited exceptions set by Parliament |
|
| Private medical insuranceInsurers, policies and premiums are not compared on this site | Not trackedSet by each policy’s own wording | Not trackedNo wait for insured patients has been read | Not applicablePremiums and excesses are not tracked | None for this row |
| Self-pay | Not applicable | Not trackedNo self-pay waiting time has been read for any hospital | Not publishedNo price found in the hospital fee schedules read | None for this row |
- What the wait measures. How long people still waiting have waited so far. It is not the time from referral to treatment.
- Choosing where you are referred. In most cases NHS patients in England have the legal right to choose the hospital or service they are referred to, including many private hospitals that provide services to the NHS (NHS.uk). NHS-funded waits at those providers are not self-pay waits.
- Insurance. What a policy pays for is set by its own wording. TreatCompare does not compare, rank or price insurers, policies or premiums.
Sources for this table
- NHS Constitution for England. Read 26 October 2026.
- NHS.uk: your choices in the NHS. Read 26 October 2026. Choosing where you are referred
NHS waiting time by city, shortest first
| City | Median wait | Compare locally |
|---|
Nuffield Health, Ramsay Health Care UK and Spire Healthcare publish no price for x-ray
These are the 3 operators whose published price lists we read — 105 of their 116 UK hospitals publish one — and none prices this procedure in a way that can be quoted. Where a price is listed at all it is banded by an internal code with nothing published to say what each band covers, so there is no figure we can honestly attach to this procedure. Other operators may publish one; we do not yet read them, and we would rather say that than imply the market is silent.
Ask the hospital for a written quote before booking. The NHS waiting-time figures on this page are unaffected — those come from NHS England and cover every trust.
UK private hospital scrape signals
Checked 6 private provider sources on 9 Oct 2026; 5 mentioned the treatment, a quote or a price. 7 GBP prices read. A further 1 figure below is recorded by hand from a provider page that blocks automated reading, and was not re-read on this date.
| Provider | Signal | Captured value | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 360Med | Price X-ray | £99 | Provider page |
| Cobalt Health | Price X-ray | £149 | Provider page |
| Oryon Imaging | Price X-ray | £70 | Provider page |
| Scan.com UK | Price X-ray scan from-price | £95 | Provider page |
| Vista Health | PriceRecorded by hand X-ray scan from-price | £99 | Provider page |
| Vista Health | Price Orbital X-Ray Only | £99 | Provider page |
| Vista Health | Price X-ray Fixed price | £99 | Provider page |
| Oryon Imaging | Available X-ray | The page mentions this treatment; no price was read | Provider page |
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Compare your route
Choose the right x-ray comparison route
People often start with the national price, then drill into a city, postcode area or referral route. These links keep that path visible from the top of the page.
Decision paths
Compare x-ray waits, prices and next actions
These pages are most useful when visitors move from the national benchmark into a local wait, private price range, referral route or price-update action.
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Looking for x-ray waits by postcode?
We also publish wait times by postcode area, mapped to the NHS trust most likely to accept your GP referral.
See x-ray by postcode area →Every published private x-ray price, by scan type →