Waiting list

anijen

It would be interesting to know how long people have actually waited, from referral to treatment, for hip/knee operations in straightforward circumstances, rather than how long they've been told they might have to wait. I feel that there might be a lot of bad press and politics going on, and also wonder whether people are being persuaded to go private by being fed exaggerated information, thus reducing the waiting lists.

Nurina

I'm afraid waiting lists are very real.

anijen

I had a Consultant appointment at 27 weeks, and a friend has just had her knee replacement within a year of seeing the Consultant. And this in North Wales, which gets all the bad press. But, at the same time, the time quoted which comes down the grapevine is 3/4 years!!

Nurina

In Wales we have the worst waiting lists. In South Wales the referral is 24 weeks in priority and at least a year for the surgery. My friend has waited 18 weeks for the referral and now she has another at least another year for surgery. Other friend of mine had been waiting two years now.

Maybe you are lucky and can get the surgery earlier but that depends on how your quality of life is. 27 weeks for the first appointment and a year for the surgery is less than the 3/4 years they say but it's still a lot when you live in pain.

Norny

I live in Northern Ireland and need a hip replacement was on local news last week average wait time is three years, 2200 people on waiting list for hip, if you pay for it private £13,500! There is only one orthopedic hospital here.

jamieA

Hi @anijen

I live in the west of Scotland. I waited 9 months for a consultation with orthopaedics for my left knee - despite rheumatology stating it needed replaced sooner rather than later due to PsA causing it to become a 'mechanical' issue. Rheumatology didn't do the referral but told me to get my GP to do so. I saw the orthopaedic consultant in December 2023 and in January 2024 I received an NHS letter stating I had been added to the list for knee surgery and the average waiting time was 107 weeks. The crazy thing is that within my local health board there are a number of different orthopaedic clinics within the city and they all have different waiting times. So all in all from referral request to surgery will be about 3 years for me.

From my many visits as an outpatient and inpatient over the last 4 years I don't put all of this delay down to pressure on the system. It strikes me that there are many inefficiencies in the NHS - particularly in staff deployment and use of services.