A&E Trauma Unit All ages

Crewe A&E Live Waiting Times

Leighton Hospital

Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

3.4(635 reviews)
Live Updated just now
2h 41m
estimated wait time
↓ 196 min shorter than usual (5 hr 57 min avg)
10 hr 5 min
longest today
51 min
shortest today
5 hr 57 min
usual wait
Typical wait for non-urgent cases. Patients are seen in order of clinical priority. The most seriously ill are always seen first, no matter how busy the department is.
This data might be old - tap to refresh
93 people
waiting
Call A&E
The wait time shown above does not apply to urgent or life-threatening cases, which are seen first regardless of the queue. Not sure if you need A&E? Visit NHS 111 online or call 111 (free, 24 hours a day). Life-threatening emergency or serious injury? Call 999.
Recent waits & what to expect
Forecast Waits set to rise
Expected wait over the next few hours
3 hr 55 min

Built from 2,561 readings taken here over the last 28 days, then adjusted to how today is going so far. A guide, not a guarantee.

Typical waits by time of day
Usually quietest around 4pm - busiest around 7am
Typical waits by day of week
Thursday tends to be quietest, Tuesday busiest
Nearby A&E & urgent care
Haywood Hospital Walk-in Centre
12.6 mi away
Long wait
Whitchurch MIU
13.2 mi away
Long wait
Royal Stoke University Hospital A&E
13.6 mi away
Long wait
Runcorn Urgent Treatment Centre
16.8 mi away
Short wait
Leek MIU
19.4 mi away
Short wait

There are also other nearby A&Es which collect wait times from the community, including Macclesfield District General Hospital, Countess Of Chester Hospital and Wythenshawe Forum.

Contact & location
Leighton Hospital, Middlewich Road, Crewe, Cheshire, CW1 4QJ
Leighton Hospital A&E in Crewe
Opening times
Monday TodayOpen 24 hours
TuesdayOpen 24 hours
WednesdayOpen 24 hours
ThursdayOpen 24 hours
FridayOpen 24 hours
SaturdayOpen 24 hours
SundayOpen 24 hours
CQC Rating
requires improvement
Getting here
Train stations
Crewe Rail Station54 min walk to A&E
Bus stops
8 routes·1 operator·5 stops within walking distance
Leighton Hospital (o/s, north-west)2 min walk to A&E
12Centrebus GroupShavington ↔ Leighton
12ACentrebus GroupCrewe ↔ Leighton
13Centrebus GroupLeighton ↔ Shavington
31Centrebus GroupNorthwich ↔ Crewe
317Centrebus GroupLeighton ↔ Alsager
42Centrebus GroupCrewe ↔ Congleton
52Centrebus GroupLeighton ↔ Sound
53Centrebus GroupLeighton ↔ Buerton
Farmleigh Drive (opp, northbound)8 min walk to A&E
42Centrebus GroupCrewe ↔ Congleton
Farmleigh Drive (cnr, southbound)8 min walk to A&E
42Centrebus GroupCongleton ↔ Crewe
Middlewich Road (opp, south-east)9 min walk to A&E
31Centrebus GroupNorthwich ↔ Crewe
Parkers Road (opp, north-west)10 min walk to A&E
12Centrebus GroupShavington ↔ Leighton
12ACentrebus GroupCrewe ↔ Leighton
13Centrebus GroupShavington ↔ Leighton
31Centrebus GroupCrewe ↔ Northwich
317Centrebus GroupAlsager ↔ Leighton
Plan journey by public transport
Crewe A&E wait times - last 24 hours
Hour Avg. wait People waiting
Today, 7 PM
avg. of 4 readings
 2 hr 29 min 93
Today, 6 PM
avg. of 3 readings
 2 hr 56 min 88
Today, 5 PM
avg. of 3 readings
 2 hr 15 min 80
Today, 4 PM
avg. of 4 readings
 2 hr 24 min 91
Today, 3 PM
avg. of 4 readings
 3 hr 15 min 97
Today, 2 PM
avg. of 4 readings
 3 hr 2 min 97
Today, 1 PM
avg. of 4 readings
 2 hr 36 min 100
Today, 12 PM
avg. of 4 readings
 1 hr 52 min 94
Today, 11 AM
avg. of 4 readings
 1 hr 4 min 86
Today, 10 AM
avg. of 4 readings
 1 hr 13 min 75
Today, 9 AM
avg. of 4 readings
 1 hr 44 min 68
Today, 8 AM
avg. of 4 readings
 3 hr 11 min 71
Today, 7 AM
avg. of 4 readings
 3 hr 41 min 74
Today, 6 AM
avg. of 4 readings
 2 hr 39 min 69
Today, 5 AM
avg. of 4 readings
 1 hr 41 min 69
Today, 4 AM
avg. of 4 readings
 9 hr 44 min 77
Today, 3 AM
avg. of 4 readings
 8 hr 44 min 80
Today, 2 AM
avg. of 4 readings
 7 hr 44 min 85
Today, 1 AM
avg. of 4 readings
 6 hr 41 min 82
Today, 12 AM
avg. of 4 readings
 5 hr 40 min 87
Yesterday, 11 PM
avg. of 4 readings
 6 hr 92
Yesterday, 10 PM
avg. of 4 readings
 6 hr 25 min 95
Yesterday, 9 PM
avg. of 4 readings
 6 hr 9 min 92
Yesterday, 8 PM
avg. of 4 readings
 5 hr 25 min 88
Departments & services
  • Accident and emergency (A&E)
  • Acute Internal Medicine
  • Breast cancer services
  • Breast Surgery
  • Cardiology
  • Cardiothoracic surgery
  • Cataract Surgery
  • Children's & Adolescent Services
  • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
  • Colorectal cancer services
  • Dementia Services
  • Dermatology
  • Diabetic Medicine
  • Diagnostic Physiological Measurement
  • Ear, Nose & Throat
  • Emergency Abdominal Surgery
  • Endocrine and thyroid surgery
  • Endocrinology and Metabolic Medicine
  • Gastrointestinal and Liver services
  • Geriatric Medicine
  • Gynaecology
  • Inpatient Diabetes
  • Intensive Care
  • Major trauma
  • Maternity services
  • Neonatal Care
  • Nephrology
  • Obstetrics And Gynaecology
  • Ophthalmology
  • Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
  • Orthopaedics
  • Paediatric Surgery
  • Pain Management
  • Prostate Cancer Service
  • Stroke
  • Urgent care centre
  • Urology
  • Vascular surgery
What’s available here
Accessibility
Braille Translation ServiceDisabled ParkingDisabled WcInduction LoopSigning Service AvailableText RelayWheelchair Access
Accommodation
Access To TvFamily AccommodationInternet AccessMobile Phones PermittedPublic TelephoneSingle Sex Accommodation Only
Counselling and support
Bereavement SupportTranslation Services
Food and amenities
CafePharmacyShop
Parking
Car ParkingCycle ParkingDisabled Parking
Faith Services
On-Site ChapelPrayer Area
Recent visitor feedbackreported by visitors
Overall
2 of 3 would recommend this department
Staff
Staff are friendly and helpful
3 of 3 were not kept informed about their wait
2 of 3 say they were triaged quickly
Environment
3 of 3 say the waiting area was clean
Toilets could be cleaner
3 of 3 felt safe in the waiting area
Family
Children’s play area available
3 of 3 say there is a separate children’s waiting area
Facilities
2 of 3 say there is enough seating
3 of 3 say there is a TV in the waiting area
3 of 3 say food and drink is available nearby
2 of 3 say there are phone charging points
3 of 3 say free WiFi is available
2 of 3 say mobile signal is good
Parking
2 of 3 say parking was busy
Payment accepted: card
Based on 3 visitor responses in the last 6 months. This information is collected through a short anonymous survey shown to visitors on this page.

About Leighton Hospital

Leighton Hospital runs a 24-hour accident and emergency department, open to all ages, on Leighton Hospital, Middlewich Road in Crewe, Cheshire, part of Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It is a designated Trauma Unit, equipped to treat significant injuries and to stabilise the most serious cases before transfer to a regional Major Trauma Centre. The wider site runs 38 listed departments and services, from Acute Internal Medicine to Vascular surgery.

The Care Quality Commission rates it Requires Improvement. It rated the hospital's urgent and emergency services Requires Improvement when they were last inspected in April 2020. Over the past 28 days, waits here have typically been shortest around 4pm and longest around 7am, a gap of about 5 hours 20 minutes. The site lists 2,328 parking spaces, 71 of them designated disabled bays, with patient parking averaging £1.00 an hour.

Official NHS performance

49.7%seen within 4 hours
7,353attendances in September 2026
60.4%England average for major A&Es

NHS England publishes these figures for Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as a whole, covering every A&E the trust runs rather than this site alone. That is below the England average of 60.4% for major A&E departments over the same month.

In the NHS Friends and Family Test for August 2026, 79% of 200 patients who responded at this site reported a positive experience. The trust's general and acute wards averaged 93.6% overnight bed occupancy in the quarter to March 2026 - full wards are the main reason admitted patients queue in A&E.

Attendances by year

NHS yearA&E attendancesMonthly averageWithin 4 hours12hr+ waits to admit
2023-2484,9637,08047.9%5,087
2024-2584,5737,04842.9%6,709
2025-2684,9337,07843.6%6,447
2026-27 (6 months)43,6377,27349.7%3,601

Between 2023-24 and 2025-26, monthly A&E attendances stayed broadly flat and the share seen within four hours fell by 4.3 percentage points.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check the current A&E wait time at Leighton Hospital?

The live waiting time for the A&E at Leighton Hospital is shown at the top of this page, together with when it was last updated.

When is the A&E at Leighton Hospital quietest?

Based on the last 28 days of readings at Leighton Hospital, waits are usually lowest around 4pm and highest around 7am. The typical-day chart on this page shows the full hour-by-hour pattern, and our guide to the best time to visit covers UK-wide patterns.

How long will I wait at Leighton Hospital A&E?

Patients are triaged on arrival and the most urgent cases are always seen first, so your wait depends on how serious your condition is and how busy the department is. Hospitals in England work to the NHS four-hour standard - the aim is to admit, transfer or discharge patients within four hours of arrival. The live figure on this page shows how Leighton Hospital is doing right now. NHS England's most recent figures (September 2026) show 49.7% of patients across the trust's A&E departments were seen within four hours.

How often are the waiting times on this page updated?

Figures refresh every 15 minutes, and the last-updated time near the top of the page shows exactly when the newest reading was taken. Waiting times can change quickly, so treat any figure as a guide rather than a guarantee.

Is the A&E at Leighton Hospital open 24 hours?

Yes - the A&E at Leighton Hospital is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. In a life-threatening emergency always call 999.

Where is Leighton Hospital and how do I get there?

Leighton Hospital is at Leighton Hospital, Middlewich Road, Crewe, Cheshire, CW1 4QJ. For general enquiries call 01270 255141. Enter your postcode in the Getting here section for a door-to-door route.

Is parking free at Leighton Hospital?

No - patient and visitor parking here averages about £1.00 an hour (NHS estates return, 2024-25). The site lists 2,328 parking spaces, including 71 designated disabled bays. Concessions often apply for blue badge holders, frequent attenders and some patients - check the hospital's own parking page.

What is the CQC rating for Leighton Hospital?

Leighton Hospital is rated Requires Improvement overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator of health and social care in England. It rated the hospital's urgent and emergency services Requires Improvement when they were last inspected in April 2020. You can read the full CQC report.

Can children be treated at Leighton Hospital A&E?

This A&E serves: All ages. If your child's age group is not treated here, the nearby section on this page lists alternatives - or call NHS 111 for urgent advice and 999 in an emergency.

Is Leighton Hospital a Major Trauma Centre?

No - Leighton Hospital is a designated Trauma Unit. It treats significant injuries and stabilises the most complex cases before transfer to a regional Major Trauma Centre.
Where this data comes from
Wait times shown here are sourced from publicly available information published by Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Our system automatically checks the trust’s published waiting-times page every 15 minutes and records the displayed waiting time. Data was last checked at 7:49pm on 26 Oct 2026. A full list of every source we use, and when each was last checked, is on our data sources page.
Verified sourceDirect capture from Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Independently captured screenshot of Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s public wait time page
Captured at 7:49 pm on Monday 26 October 2026

This site is independent and has no affiliation with, or endorsement by, any NHS trust or hospital. Department labels shown (e.g. A&E, MIU, UTC) are our interpretation of the source data and may not match the hospital’s own terminology. Wait times change frequently and may not reflect the current situation, so always contact the hospital directly for the most up-to-date information. If any information is incorrect, please let us know.

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