Abstract Background This retrospective study investigated factors influencing time to treatment initiation (TTI) and the influence of TTI on overall survival (OS) of primary head and neck cancer (HNC) patients in cohorts from 2003, 2008 and 2013. Methods Two hundred and ninenty seven patients (78.8% men; median age: 62 years) were included. Kaplan–Meier analyses and multivariate Cox regression were performed to investigate OS. Results Mean times to treatment initiation (TTI) of 2003, 2008 and 2013 were 17.11 ± 18.00, 30.26 ± 30.08 and 17.30 ± 37.04 days, respectively. TTI for patients with T3/T4 tumors was higher than for T1/T2 (p = 0.010). In univariable analysis on OS, TTI > 5 days showed lower OS (p = 0.047). In multivariate analysis, longer TTI had no influence on lower OS [hazard ratio (HR) 1.236; 95% CI 0.852–1.791; p = 0.264], but male gender [HR 2.342; 95% CI 1.229–4.466; p = 0.010], increased age [HR 1.026; 95% CI 1.008–1.045; p = 0.005], M1 [HR 5.823; 95% CI 2.252–15.058; p = 0.003], hypopharynx tumor [HR 2.508; 95% CI 1.571–4.003; p < 0.001] and oral cavity tumor [HR 1.712; CI 1.101–2.661; p = 0.017]. The year of treatment showed no significant effect on OS. Conclusion Median TTI seemed to be very short compared to other studies. There was no clear trend in the impact of TTI on OS from 2003 to 2013.