Help request re NHS referral 45 weeks waiting list

UnsureAboutthis

Hello.
A friend had an incidental finding during a lung scan.
Thankfully, it does not appear to be serious but the hospital wrote to GP
GP made a referral in late Oct 2025 to the Cardiology Dept.
The mate chased up the referral on Friday. He was advised that there was a 45
week waiting list.

What is the best way forward as we are guessing all clinics of this nature will be busy. How do we easily find out how long a routine, initial appt is with different hospitals?

My mate has looked up the private route for a Echo scan and a CAC CT -  He lives in Kent, near London and prices for the 2 vary for about one thousand+ pounds to about 4k inc a full report.

The mate is retired, no on benefits and had a few k's in savings but he wants this out of the
way to see family in Australia. However, he has not been able to get medical cover for over a year as he has been waiting for one test result or another for heart/lungs

Travel insurance will give him cover but not inc those bit which is fair enough but not worth the risk.

Should he make an appointment with GP but he is aware they are very busy just like the NHS. We both are baffled by the 18 weeks waiting list touted about but we are aware it is approximately 18 weeks but about 45 weeks or more is a long time. So all help will be considered in order for him to decide the next steps.

I'm not seeking medical advice but guidance/help about trying to reduce the waiting times for an intial NHS appt.

(He is 73 )

Spoonie_Turtle

I don't know if it would work for him but my cardiology appointment was over a year away initially, but on the page where I booked the appointment I kept checking back and occasionally cancellations would free up a random sooner appointment so I eventually managed to get one.

That only works if you have access to booking/managing it online though.  I suppose if not he could phone them and ask to be notified of any cancellations, which can sometimes work.

Ayr_Rage

I am in Scotland and average waiting times are published by the local NHS trust.

https://www.nhsaaa.net/nhs-ayrshire-arran-outpatient-waiting-times/

Here you can also call the Referral Management Services and advise you can accept cancellations at short notice.

Best of luck.

UnsureAboutthis

Spoonie_Turtle said:

I don't know if it would work for him but my cardiology appointment was over a year away initially, but on the page where I booked the appointment I kept checking back and occasionally cancellations would free up a random sooner appointment so I eventually managed to get one.

That only works if you have access to booking/managing it online though.  I suppose if not he could phone them and ask to be notified of any cancellations, which can sometimes work.

Thanks but for some reason it is not on that sytem as I checked for him.
I've had one of those for PT. The appt was 14 weeks away. By looking online, I
manged to get one at 2.5 weeks.

UnsureAboutthis

Ayr_Rage said:

I am in Scotland and average waiting times are published by the local NHS trust.

https://www.nhsaaa.net/nhs-ayrshire-arran-outpatient-waiting-times/

Here you can also call the Referral Management Services and advise you can accept cancellations at short notice.

Best of luck.

Thanks but not worth the effort calling them as they don't answer the phone, and I guess
with hundreds on their waiting lists, they fit in those with an urgent referral/etc.

I'd be grateful if anyone can find a link for the NHS like the one they have in Scotland.

UnsureAboutthis

I've looked around as much as I can re waiting lists for new, routine referral  - inc the link kindly posted by
@Ayr_Rage
It looks as though almost everywhere in the UK has a 40 to 45+ waiting list. Worryingly, the 'urgent'
waiting list is  at least a couple of months+

Murphybear

Unfortunately Covid had a massive affect on hospital waiting lists.  Most elective surgeries were cancelled.  Apparently the target 18 weeks target has not been met since 2016.  I had my knee replaced before Covid, I waited 17 weeks.  My husband is waiting for a hip replacement and has waited for a year, this is very common.

ppp123

A few practical things your friend can try, some of which aren’t always clearly explained:

1) Ask about the Right to Choose (England)
For routine outpatient referrals, patients in England usually have the right to choose a different NHS provider if another hospital can see them sooner. This doesn’t have to be local. The GP (or the referral team) can re-route the referral if your friend is happy to travel further.

The key point is that waiting times vary by hospital, not just by specialty, and some trusts quietly have much shorter cardiology waits than others.

2) Look up hospital-level waiting data
England doesn’t publish waiting times as neatly as Scotland, but they are published. There’s a tool that pulls together NHS referral wait data by hospital and specialty.

If you search “WeCovr nhs lists” you’ll find a free NHS waiting gap tool that lets you compare routine outpatient waits (including cardiology) across hospitals. It’s not medical advice — just published NHS data in one place — but it can help identify whether switching hospitals could realistically shave months off the wait.

3) Ask the GP to mark availability for short-notice slots
Even if the booking system isn’t visible online, the referral can often be flagged as “available at short notice / willing to travel”. That doesn’t guarantee anything, but it does mean cancellations don’t automatically bypass him.

4) Partial private can sometimes unblock NHS
Some people choose to self-fund a single diagnostic (e.g. echo) privately without switching fully private. In some cases, the NHS cardiology team can then triage or prioritise next steps based on results already done. This depends on the trust, but it’s worth asking the GP whether that approach would be accepted locally before spending money.

5) 18 weeks is a target, not reality
Sadly, the 18-week figure hasn’t reflected routine outpatient reality for years, especially post-Covid. A 40–45 week routine cardiology wait is now unfortunately common, even though it feels shocking when you first encounter it.

None of this solves the wider problem, but comparing hospitals and re-routing referrals is often the only realistic way to reduce waits without going fully private.

Hope that helps your friend decide next steps.

ppp123

Just to follow up in case it helps others — England does publish hospital-level waiting time data, but it’s not very easy to find in one place. I was reading about it here: 

https://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/news/people/milton-keynes-patients-face-uks-longest-wait-for-eye-surgery-5473834

and it mentioned this free tool here that pulls together NHS referral waiting times by hospital and specialty, which can be useful if you’re considering switching provider under Right to Choose:

https://wecovr.com/calculators/nhs-wait-vs-private-cost-map/

It uses published NHS data and helped us see whether travelling a bit further could realistically reduce the wait. Obviously not medical advice, but useful for comparing options.