Support & resources
Useful information for NHS patients navigating waiting lists.
Contact your hospital's patient support team (PALS)
Every NHS trust has a free Patient Advice and Liaison Service. They can tell you your waiting list position, give you an estimated treatment date, escalate if your wait is unreasonably long, and explain your rights if you have waited over 18 weeks.
Find PALS contact details →Your 18-week rights
Under the NHS Constitution, you have the right to start consultant-led treatment within 18 weeks of referral. If your wait exceeds this, you can ask your GP or PALS team to arrange treatment at an alternative provider.
Learn about NHS Choice →NHS Choice: switching to a faster trust
Under NHS Choice, your GP can refer you to any NHS trust in England, not just your local one. If another trust has a shorter wait, you can ask to be referred there. You arrange your own transport; surgery remains free.
Going private and returning to NHS care
You are entitled to use private services for consultation or diagnostics and then return to NHS care for treatment, and your NHS waiting list position is not affected by having a private consultation. Under Department of Health guidance, your private consultant can arrange your transfer back to the NHS directly, by writing to your NHS trust: you do not need to go back through your GP.
If you have already been referred, your NHS clock is running and a private consultation alongside it does not change your place. If you have not been referred yet, there is no place to keep: your clock starts when a hospital receives your referral, whoever sends it.