A&E Trauma Unit

Prescot A&E Live Waiting Times

Whiston Hospital

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Latest report
8 hr 30 min
12 hr ago
Average
13 hr 29 min
45 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
Warrington Hospital A&E
7.4 mi away
Long wait
Runcorn Urgent Treatment Centre
7.7 mi away
Long wait
Leighton Hospital A&E
24.5 mi away
Long wait
Whitchurch MIU
31.3 mi away
Long wait
Haywood Hospital Walk-in Centre
35.1 mi away
Long wait

There are also other nearby A&Es which collect wait times from the community, including Alder Hey Nhs Foundation Trust, Old Swan and Smithdown.

Contact & location
Warrington Road, Prescot, Merseyside, L35 5DR
Switchboard: 0151 426 1600
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
Train stations
Prescot Rail Station12 min walk to A&E
Whiston Rail Station14 min walk to A&E
Eccleston Park Rail Station15 min walk to A&E
Rainhill Rail Station17 min walk to A&E
Thatto Heath Rail Station31 min walk to A&E
Bus stops
17 routes·8 operators·5 stops within walking distance
Whiston Hospital (Stop B, south-east)2 min walk to A&E
10AArriva UK BusLiverpool ↔ St Helens
10AStagecoachLiverpool ↔ St Helens
289Huyton TravelKirkby ↔ St Helens
50Warrington’s Own BusesHuyton ↔ Widnes
61Arriva UK BusLiverpool ↔ Palace Fields
700Hattons Transport LtdEccleston Park ↔ Rainhill Stoops
710Warrington’s Own BusesWest Park ↔ Rainhill Stoops
710Huyton TravelWest Park ↔ Rainhill Stoops
750Huyton TravelEccleston ↔ Rainhill
751Huyton TravelEccleston ↔ Rainhill
C50Warrington’s Own BusesHuyton ↔ Widnes
Whiston Hospital (Stop C, north-west)2 min walk to A&E
10AArriva UK BusSt Helens ↔ Liverpool
10AStagecoachSt Helens ↔ Liverpool
10AArriva Merseyside
50Warrington’s Own BusesWidnes ↔ Huyton
61Arriva UK BusPalace Fields ↔ Liverpool
61Arriva North West Other
750Huyton TravelRainhill ↔ Eccleston
89Arriva UK BusSt Helens ↔ Speke
89Arriva Merseyside
C50Warrington’s Own BusesWidnes ↔ Huyton
Whiston Hospital (Stop A, westbound)2 min walk to A&E
10AArriva UK BusSt Helens ↔ Liverpool
10AStagecoachSt Helens ↔ Liverpool
10AArriva Merseyside
289Huyton TravelSt Helens ↔ Kirkby
50Warrington’s Own BusesWidnes ↔ Huyton
61Arriva UK BusPalace Fields ↔ Liverpool
61Arriva North West Other
710Huyton TravelSt Anns ↔ West Park
750Huyton TravelRainhill ↔ Eccleston
C50Warrington’s Own BusesWidnes ↔ Huyton
Whiston Hospital (Stop D, south-east)2 min walk to A&E
10AArriva UK BusLiverpool ↔ St Helens
10AStagecoachLiverpool ↔ St Helens
50Warrington’s Own BusesHuyton ↔ Widnes
61Arriva UK BusLiverpool ↔ Palace Fields
750Huyton TravelEccleston ↔ Rainhill
89Arriva UK BusSpeke ↔ St Helens
C50Warrington’s Own BusesHuyton ↔ Widnes
Whiston Hospital (Stop E, south-west)3 min walk to A&E
297Hattons Transport LtdSt Helens ↔ Kirkby
99MD Bus & CoachWhiston
Plan journey by public transport
What’s available here
Accessibility
Braille Translation ServiceDisabled ParkingDisabled WcInduction LoopSigning Service AvailableWheelchair Access
Accommodation
Access To TvPublic Telephone
Parking
Car ParkingDisabled Parking
Food and Amenities
CafeShop
Recent visitor feedbackreported by visitors
Overall
4 of 4 would not recommend this department
Staff
3 of 4 say staff were friendly and helpful
4 of 4 were not kept informed about their wait
4 of 4 say triage was slow
Environment
2 of 4 say the waiting area was not clean
2 of 4 say the toilets were not clean
3 of 4 felt safe in the waiting area
Family
3 of 3 say there is no children’s play area
3 of 3 say there is no separate children’s waiting area
Facilities
4 of 4 say there is not enough seating
2 of 3 say there is no TV
2 of 4 say food and drink is available nearby
2 of 3 say there are no phone charging points
2 of 3 say free WiFi is available
Mobile signal is poor
Parking
2 of 4 say parking was busy
Payment accepted: card
Based on 4 visitor responses in the last 6 months. This information is collected through a short anonymous survey shown to visitors on this page.
Visitor experiencesshared by visitors

“Waiting time increased by the hour from 4 to 6 to over 8 hours, I left despite 111 telling me I needed to be seen urgently as at 77 and having been travelling since early morning I was too tired to sit any longer.”

Sue · 2 weeks ago

About Whiston Hospital

Whiston Hospital runs a 24-hour accident and emergency department, open to all ages, on Warrington Road in Prescot, Merseyside, part of Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS 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 37 listed departments and services, from Acute Internal Medicine to Vascular surgery.

The Care Quality Commission rates it Good. The site lists 2,783 parking spaces, 125 of them designated disabled bays, with patient parking averaging £1.10 an hour.

Official NHS performance

62.7%seen within 4 hours
17,858attendances in September 2026
60.4%England average for major A&Es

NHS England publishes these figures for Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS 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, 81% of 502 patients who responded at this site reported a positive experience. The trust's general and acute wards averaged 97.2% 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
2023-24186,96215,58057.2%2,879
2024-25201,23516,77061.8%4,441
2025-26208,54617,37962.1%4,866
2026-27 (6 months)106,18117,69762.4%2,745

Between 2023-24 and 2025-26, monthly A&E attendances rose 12% and the share seen within four hours improved by 4.9 percentage points.

Frequently asked questions

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

The live waiting time for the A&E at Whiston 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 Whiston 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 Whiston 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 Whiston Hospital is doing right now. NHS England's most recent figures (September 2026) show 62.7% of patients across the trust's A&E departments were seen within four hours.

How often are the waiting times on this page updated?

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 Whiston Hospital recently, submitting your wait takes a few seconds and helps others plan.

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

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

Where is Whiston Hospital and how do I get there?

Whiston Hospital is at Warrington Road, Prescot, Merseyside, L35 5DR. For general enquiries call 0151 426 1600. Enter your postcode in the Getting here section for a door-to-door route.

Is parking free at Whiston Hospital?

No - patient and visitor parking here averages about £1.10 an hour (NHS estates return, 2024-25). The site lists 2,783 parking spaces, including 125 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 Whiston Hospital?

Whiston Hospital is rated Good overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator of health and social care in England. You can read the full CQC report.

Can children be treated at Whiston 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 Whiston Hospital a Major Trauma Centre?

No - Whiston 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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