How to check your place on a surgery waiting list

What the published figures show

The figures describe surgery that has already happened. The median wait is the middle waiting time of the patients treated in 2024–25. Half of those patients waited less than the median, and half waited longer.

A median is not a forecast for one patient. The wait of a person who joins a list today can differ from the published figure.

• Methodology

What the waiting time counts

The figure counts the time a patient spends on the waiting list for surgery. The time before a patient joins the list is outside the figure, so the wait to see a specialist is outside it too.

Urgency category

A treating specialist assigns an urgency category after assessing a patient. The recommended time for each category is a target.

• Category 1: surgery is recommended within 30 days.
• Category 2: surgery is recommended within 90 days.
• Category 3: surgery is recommended within 365 days.

How often hospitals meet the recommended time

Each public hospital reports the share of patients it treated within the recommended time. The urgency pages show that share hospital by hospital.

• Urgency categories

Questions to ask the hospital

A hospital holds the details of a patient's own listing. A patient can put these questions to the hospital's booking office or to the treating specialist.

• On what date did I join the waiting list?
• What urgency category have I been given?
• What is the recommended time for that category?
• Does the hospital record any period when I was not available for surgery, and how does it count that period?
• Whom do I contact if my condition changes while I wait?

• Public hospitals