Changing hospital

If you have to endure increasingly long waiting times for routine elective surgery, there could be a solution for you.

In some cases, you can ask to be switched to a different hospital waiting list if you have been told that you will have to wait for treatment for more than 18 weeks.

Your options

If you need to see a consultant you can ask to change your hospital if:

• your treatment is not urgent and you have to wait more than 18 weeks before starting treatment for a physical or mental health condition
• you have to wait more than two weeks before seeing a specialist for suspected cancer

Your Integrated Care System (ICS), or NHS England (if you have been referred to a consultant-led specialised service), must take all reasonable steps to ensure that you are offered an appointment at a suitable alternative organisation that can start your treatment earlier than if you were to continue to wait for treatment from the provider you originally chose. If there is more than one suitable alternative organisation, you must be offered a choice from all of them.

Are these legal rights?

Yes, but there are circumstances in which you may not ask to change your hospital.

If you have to wait for more than 18 weeks for non-urgent treatment to start, you do not have a legal entitlement to ask to be switched to a different hospital waiting list if:

• the services you are using are not led by a consultant
• you choose to wait longer for your treatment to start
• delaying your treatment is down to a risk associated with treating you at that time – i.e. you do not currently meet the safe criteria for treatment
• you fail to attend appointments which you had chosen from a set of reasonable options
• you decide not to start, or you decline, treatment
• a doctor has decided that it is appropriate to monitor you for a time without treatment
• you cannot start treatment for reasons not related to the hospital, for example, you are a reservist posted abroad while waiting to start treatment
• your treatment is no longer necessary
• you are on the national transplant list
• you are using maternity services.

Did you know you have the right to choose where to have your NHS surgery?

If you or a loved one needs to see an NHS specialist, you can choose to access any hospital or treatment centre in England.

We know that making an informed decision, and the right choice for your individual needs, is important to you and your recovery, so we want to help as much as possible.

For a visual guide and more information on how to change your hospital, the Department of Health website prepared a document to download. Please note that the following link will lead you out of our page and Practice Plus Group is not responsible for the content.

Department of Health: choose Easyread leaflet 4: Changing your hospital

You will also find a lot of other useful information on your choices within the NHS on this page.

Comparing hospital waiting times

The NHS Waiting List Tracker is a useful tool for keeping an eye on current waiting lists. You can also compare by area of the UK. For instance, the tool allows you to see that currently, North-East London, Kent and Medway, and Birmingham have the highest waiting lists. On the contrary, Portsmouth, Blackburn and Knowsley currently have the shortest NHS waiting lists in the UK for orthopaedic surgery.

How long is the NHS waitlist?

According to a report from the Royal College of Surgeons in England, the number of patients on the NHS waiting list reached six million in 2022. Of these, over 18,500 had been waiting for more than two years for their surgery. Patients on the waiting list for hip replacement face the longest waiting times¹.

What are the maximum hospital waiting times?

According to the NHS website, the maximum waiting time for non-urgent referrals is 18 weeks from when your appointment is booked. However, as has already been mentioned, in some areas of England and the UK, patients have been on the surgery waiting list for more than two years.

Where am I on the NHS waiting list?

While there’s currently no way to discover your exact position on the NHS waiting list, there are resources that patients waiting for treatment can use. Both the NHS Waiting List Tracker and My Planned Care* are resources that can provide patients with the current waiting times in their area.

How can I check hospital waiting times near me?

NHS resources such as the Waiting List Tracker and My Planned Care* provide information as to waiting times in your area.
(*Practice Plus Group is not responsible for and does not control the content displayed on external websites.)

Why are NHS waiting times so long?

The answer to this question isn’t solely down to one reason. The following are all contributing factors to the lengthening on NHS waiting times:

• Population growth – increasing population means more people needing medical treatment
• COVID-19 pandemic – the pandemic saw COVID patients given priority over those on waiting lists for non-life threatening surgery. This created waiting list backlogs that weren’t attended to until restrictions were eased
• Loss of qualified medical professionals – between 2016 and 2019, the number of qualified, permanent GPs and practice nurses fell by 5% for GPs and 2% respectively²

The effects of the pandemic on hospital waiting times

As mentioned previously, the impact of the COVID pandemic on both health services and waiting times has been profoundly negative. From February 2020 onwards, COVID patients were prioritised over those needing non-life threatening surgery (such as knee and hip replacements). This meant the waiting list grew and now counts among the highest levels ever. The number of people waiting for surgery on the NHS currently stands at over six million people.

What to do while you wait for your surgery

The type of surgery you need will dictate the kind of preparation you can do. If, for example, you need knee, hip or eye surgery, you should start to prepare right away. Removing hazards from your home (loose rugs and cables) to prevent falling, placing items within reach, and clearing space for walking with crutches, are all good ideas for preparation.

You should also consider strengthening and conditioning your body prior to surgery. Maintaining a healthy weight also reduces the amount of stress that will be put on the knee joint post-op.

Anti-inflammatory medication can help significantly. They can help manage the pain, allowing you to carry out daily activities and maintain a level of fitness.

How can I get surgery faster?

If you’re currently on a waiting list, you can read about tips for having your NHS surgery sooner. However, if you want to reduce surgery waiting times, there are alternative options to the NHS. You may want to consider self-pay private healthcare. At Practice Plus Group, we follow a consultant-led approach. You will be supported throughout by an expert Consultant and a Private Health Coordinator who specialise in hip and knee replacements.

If, after your initial enquiry, you are eligible for surgery (and happy to proceed), you will receive a no obligation appointment. This will cost £95 and includes your x-ray. It will take place at a Practice Plus Group hospital appropriate for you within 2-3 weeks of enquiry.

After further consultation, your Private Health Coordinator will help arrange your surgery dates. They will also provide you with all of the relevant information you will require to prepare and start treatment. Surgery normally takes place between two and four weeks of your consultation.