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What you get when you log a wait

Two dates and about 30 seconds. In return you get your own record of the wait, your rights, and a letter ready to send.

Your wait becomes your evidence.

Log it. Where, what for, the day it started and the day it ended, or tick "still waiting". No name, no account.
Confirm it. One tap on the link we email you. That is how we know you are a real person.
Get your record. Your dates and the days counted, set beside what the service promises and what it publishes.
Know your rights. What the service must do, and what you can do about it, each with the official source.
Send your letter. A complaint already written from your own dates, addressed to the right place. You send it yourself, if you choose to.

A worked example

Made-up details, shown exactly as the site shows a real record. A patient was referred for an operation 175 days ago, has had the date moved once, and is still waiting.

Example

Your record

175 days

so far, and still counting

49 days longer than the 18 weeks the NHS Constitution allows for consultant-led treatment

Where	Trauma and Orthopaedics at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
What	Operation or treatment
Wait started	21 April 2026
Ended	Still waiting
Times you chased it	3
Times cancelled or moved	1

Beside the official figure

Official figures for August 2026 say 61% of people on this waiting list had waited 18 weeks or less, and the typical wait so far was 13 weeks.

Yours to print or save, and to use: in a complaint, with a councillor or MP, or to ask for what you are owed.

Your rights

Know where you stand

18 weeks. You have the right to start consultant-led treatment within 18 weeks of referral for a non-urgent condition. If that is not possible, the local NHS board must take all reasonable steps to offer a suitable alternative provider. Handbook to the NHS Constitution
Suspected cancer: 28 days. You have the right to be told you have cancer, or that it has been ruled out, within 28 days of an urgent referral. Handbook to the NHS Constitution
Ask to be treated somewhere else. If you are likely to wait longer than 18 weeks, you have the legal right to ask to be seen by a different provider. The hospital or the local NHS board must look into it and offer alternatives that could see you sooner. NHS guide to waiting times
Choose your hospital. When you are referred for a first outpatient appointment, you have the right to choose which provider you are referred to. Waiting times differ, so it is worth comparing. Handbook to the NHS Constitution

All your rights, and how to complain

General information, checked against each source on 12 October 2026. It is not legal advice. Follow the links for the official wording.

Your letter

Already written, from your own dates

To: Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Date: 13 October 2026

I am writing about the time I have waited for hospital care, and I would like your help to resolve it.

My wait for operation or treatment (Trauma and Orthopaedics at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust) began on 21 April 2026. As of 13 October 2026 I am still waiting. That is 175 days.

I chased it 3 times. It was cancelled or moved once.

If this wait is for consultant-led treatment, the NHS Constitution gives me the right to start it within 18 weeks of referral, and to ask to be seen by a different provider if that will be missed.

Please tell me:
1. the date I will be seen or treated
2. which other providers could see me sooner

If I am not satisfied with your reply I understand I can make a formal complaint, and then go to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

NHS number, if you have it: [NHS number]
Date of birth: [date of birth]

Yours faithfully
[your name]
[your phone or email]

You add your name and reference, copy it and send it. We never send anything to the service, and we don't keep a copy.

And it helps the next person

Your dates join everyone else's for the same place. Once ten people have logged a wait there, the real figures appear beside the official ones, so the next person knows what to expect and the service can see it too.

Log a wait Read your rights

Private by design

Your record has its own private link, sent only to you. It shows nothing that identifies you.
Your email is deleted once your wait is finished and confirmed.
Nothing goes to the service. Logging a wait is not a complaint. The letter is there if you want to use it.

Privacy notice