A&E Trauma Unit

Peterborough A&E Live Waiting Times

Peterborough City Hospital

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust

Latest report
12 hr
20 hr ago
Average
10 hr 28 min
8 reports
Reported by visitors, not the hospital. Waits shown here are typical for non-urgent cases. Patients are seen in order of clinical priority, so the most seriously ill are always seen first no matter how busy the department is.
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0 minutes total
Community reported wait times

These times are reported by visitors and may not reflect current conditions.

Nearby A&E & urgent care
Spalding Urgent Treatment Centre
15.9 mi away
Long wait
Grantham & District Hospital Urgent Treatment Centre
27.8 mi away
Long wait
Boston Urgent Treatment Centre
30.3 mi away
Long wait
Milton Keynes Hospital A&E
43.1 mi away
Long wait
Milton Keynes Children's A&E
43.1 mi away
Long wait

There are also other nearby A&Es which collect wait times from the community, including Kettering General Hospital, Bedford Hospital South Wing and The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Contact & location
Edith Cavell Campus, Bretton Gate, Bretton, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE3 9GZ
Opening times
Monday TodayOpen 24 hours
TuesdayOpen 24 hours
WednesdayOpen 24 hours
ThursdayOpen 24 hours
FridayOpen 24 hours
SaturdayOpen 24 hours
SundayOpen 24 hours
Getting here
Metro / tram
Orton Mere (Nene Valley Railway)35 min walk to A&E
Peterborough (Nene Valley Railway)35 min walk to A&E
Ferry Meadows (Nene Valley Railway)41 min walk to A&E
Plan journey by public transport

About Peterborough City Hospital

Peterborough City Hospital runs a 24-hour accident and emergency department, open to all ages, on Edith Cavell Campus, Bretton Gate, Bretton in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, part of North West Anglia 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 48 listed departments and services, from Breast cancer services to Vascular surgery.

The Care Quality Commission rates it Requires Improvement, last inspected in April 2023. The site lists 2,306 parking spaces, 102 of them designated disabled bays, with patient parking averaging £1.73 an hour.

Official NHS performance

60.9%seen within 4 hours
17,648attendances in September 2026
60.4%England average for major A&Es

NHS England publishes these figures for North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust as a whole, covering every A&E the trust runs rather than this site alone. That is above 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, 72% of 838 patients who responded at this site reported a positive experience. The trust's general and acute wards averaged 88.0% 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
2023-24150,89112,57454.5%7,995
2024-25169,29214,10858.4%9,205
2025-26179,53514,96161.2%9,680
2026-27 (6 months)98,58016,43061.9%4,532

Between 2023-24 and 2025-26, monthly A&E attendances rose 19% and the share seen within four hours improved by 6.7 percentage points.

Frequently asked questions

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

The live waiting time for the A&E at Peterborough City Hospital is shown at the top of this page, together with when it was last updated. Times are reported by recent visitors and carry a community badge - after your own visit you can submit your wait time in a few seconds to help the next person.

When is the A&E at Peterborough City Hospital quietest?

Patterns vary by hospital, but across UK urgent and emergency care the quietest window is usually the early morning, roughly 4am to 7am, with demand building through the afternoon and peaking in the evening. Friday and Saturday nights and Monday mornings are typically the busiest periods. See our guide to the best time to visit for more detail.

How long will I wait at Peterborough City 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 Peterborough City Hospital is doing right now. NHS England's most recent figures (September 2026) show 60.9% of patients across the trust's A&E departments were seen within four hours.

How often are the waiting times on this page updated?

This page updates whenever a visitor submits a new wait time, so freshness depends on recent reports - each entry shows when that person visited. If you have been to Peterborough City Hospital recently, submitting your wait takes a few seconds and helps others plan.

Is the A&E at Peterborough City Hospital open 24 hours?

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

Where is Peterborough City Hospital and how do I get there?

Peterborough City Hospital is at Edith Cavell Campus, Bretton Gate, Bretton, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE3 9GZ. For general enquiries call 01733 678000. Enter your postcode in the Getting here section for a door-to-door route.

Is parking free at Peterborough City Hospital?

No - patient and visitor parking here averages about £1.73 an hour (NHS estates return, 2024-25). The site lists 2,306 parking spaces, including 102 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 Peterborough City Hospital?

Peterborough City Hospital is rated Requires Improvement overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator of health and social care in England, following an inspection in April 2023. You can read the full CQC report.

Can children be treated at Peterborough City 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 Peterborough City Hospital a Major Trauma Centre?

No - Peterborough City Hospital is a designated Trauma Unit. It treats significant injuries and stabilises the most complex cases before transfer to a regional Major Trauma Centre.
About this data
This hospital does not currently have a live data source. The waiting times shown here are reported by visitors and may not reflect current conditions. You can see how we source data for every hospital on our data sources page. 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. If any information is incorrect, please let us know.
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