Are 18-week pressures concentrated in particular parts of England? It turns out they are. Here is a map of the underlying pressures in Ophthalmology:

The map shows a coloured marker for each Trust where at least 50 patients were admitted during January 2011. Trusts with low waiting time pressures are shown as little green circles (i.e. Trusts where less than 10 per cent of patients have already waited over 18 weeks, based on incomplete pathways). But if 10 per cent of patients have already waited longer than 18 weeks, then that Trust gets a big pin stuck in it; the colour varies according to how long those 10 per cent have waited: blue for at least 18-24 weeks, purple for 24-30 weeks, and red for over 30 weeks.

As you can see, there are hotspots of multiple pressured Trusts in London and the North West, with scatterings of pressure elsewhere in the country as well.

What about other specialties? Here they all are. And if you want to look at any particular Trust in detail, you can download up-to-date reports here or click the REPORTS link in the menu bar above.

Analysis conducted using data from the Department of Health.
Maps created using Google fusion tables
Thanks to Toby Hillman for pressing me to improve the graphics