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Your rights when you are kept waiting
What each service must do, and what you can do about it. Most people are never told.
Jump to: Your GP surgery · Hospital waits · A&E and ambulances · The police · Council home repairs · Potholes and roads
Log your wait and get your own record
When you log a wait here you get a private page with your dates, the days counted, the official figure beside it, and a complaint letter already filled in. It is yours to use.
Your rights
Your GP surgery
What the service must do
- No legal maximum wait. There is no law setting how long you can wait for a GP appointment, which is why logged waits matter.
- A complaint answered properly. You have the right to have a complaint about NHS services acknowledged within 3 working days and properly investigated. Handbook to the NHS Constitution
What you can do
- Complain to the surgery or to the local NHS board that funds it. You can choose either. You have 12 months from when it happened, or from when you found out. NHS England: how to complain
- Take it further. If you are not satisfied with the reply, you can ask the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to look at it. It is free. Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
- Get free help to complain. NHS complaints advocacy is free and independent of the NHS. Your council can give you the local contact. NHS England: how to complain
- Choose your surgery. You have the right to choose your GP practice and to be accepted unless it has reasonable grounds to refuse, such as being closed to new patients or you living outside its area. It should tell you why. Handbook to the NHS Constitution
General information, checked against each source on 12 October 2026. It is not legal advice. Follow the links for the official wording.
Your rights
Hospital waits
What the service must do
- 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
- An operation cancelled on the day. The NHS pledges that if your operation is cancelled on or after the day you are due in, for a non-medical reason, you will be offered another binding date within 28 days, or have your treatment paid for at the time and hospital of your choice. Handbook to the NHS Constitution
- A complaint answered properly. You have the right to have a complaint acknowledged within 3 working days and properly investigated. Handbook to the NHS Constitution
What you can do
- 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
- Ask for a second opinion. It is not a legal right, but doctors must respect your right to seek one. Ask your GP to refer you to a different specialist. It counts as a new referral, so you may wait longer. Healthwatch: getting a second opinion
- Use Martha's Rule if someone is getting worse in hospital. If you or someone you are with is in hospital, their condition is getting worse and you feel your concerns are not being dealt with, you have the right to ask for a rapid review by a different team. Ask the ward staff how to call for it. It is for urgent worries about someone deteriorating, not for a second opinion on a diagnosis. NHS England: Martha's Rule
- Talk to PALS. Every hospital trust has a Patient Advice and Liaison Service that can chase a problem without a formal complaint. Handbook to the NHS Constitution
- Complain formally. To the hospital or the local NHS board, within 12 months. If you are not satisfied, the Ombudsman can look at it, free. NHS England: 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 rights
A&E and ambulances
What the service must do
- Standards, not rights. The four-hour A&E standard and the ambulance response times are targets the NHS sets itself. Missing one does not give you a legal claim.
What you can do
- Use Martha's Rule if someone is getting worse. If a patient in hospital is deteriorating and you feel you are not being listened to, you have the right to ask for a rapid review by a different team. Ask the staff how to call for it. NHS England: Martha's Rule
- Complain about your care or your wait. To the hospital or the ambulance service, within 12 months. PALS at the hospital can help first. NHS England: how to complain
- Take it further. If you are not satisfied with the reply, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman can look at it, free. Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
General information, checked against each source on 12 October 2026. It is not legal advice. Follow the links for the official wording.
Your rights
The police
What the service must do
- No law on how fast officers attend. Forces set their own response targets. What the law does set is what victims must be told.
- Written confirmation. If you report a crime as a victim, you have the right to written confirmation of your report, within 5 working days. The Victims' Code
- Told about key decisions. You have the right to be told when a suspect is arrested or charged, or if the police decide not to investigate or not to prosecute, within 5 working days. For victims of the most serious crimes and vulnerable victims it is 1 working day. The Victims' Code
- Offered support. You have the right to be referred to a support service within 2 working days. The Victims' Code
What you can do
- Ask for a review of a decision not to prosecute. This is the Victims' Right to Review. The police must tell you how to ask. The Victims' Code
- Complain to the force. You can complain if you did not get these rights, or about how you were treated. Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner: make a complaint
- Ask for the outcome to be reviewed. If you are unhappy with how a complaint was handled, you have 28 days from the day after the date on the outcome letter. The letter says who to apply to, usually the Police and Crime Commissioner. Independent Office for Police Conduct: reviews
General information, checked against each source on 12 October 2026. It is not legal advice. Follow the links for the official wording.
Your rights
Council home repairs
What the service must do
- Emergencies: 24 hours. Under Awaab's Law, a social landlord must investigate an emergency hazard, such as a gas leak, dangerous electrics or a major leak, within 24 hours and make it safe within 24 hours. Government guide to Awaab's Law for tenants
- Damp and mould: 10 working days. A significant damp or mould hazard must be investigated within 10 working days, with a written summary to you within 3 working days of that, and made safe within 5 working days of the investigation finishing. Government guide to Awaab's Law for tenants
- Somewhere else to stay. If your home cannot be made safe in time, your landlord must offer you suitable alternative accommodation until it is. Government guide to Awaab's Law for tenants
- Answer complaints on time. A landlord must acknowledge a complaint within 5 working days and reply in writing within 10 working days after that. At the second stage it has 20 working days. Housing Ombudsman
What you can do
- Complain to the council. Use its housing complaints process. It has two stages. Hull City Council: complaints about your council home East Riding of Yorkshire Council: contact and complaints
- Go to the Housing Ombudsman. Once you have the council's final reply, and within 12 months of it. It is free. Housing Ombudsman
- Use the Right to Repair. Secure council tenants have a legal right to have certain small urgent repairs, costing up to £250, done within set times, such as one working day for a total loss of water or electricity. If the council misses the time you can ask for another contractor. If that time is missed too, you are owed £10 plus £2 a day, up to £50. Right to Repair regulations
- Go to court. If the council misses the Awaab's Law deadlines, a tenant named on the tenancy can take it to court for breach of contract. Get advice first. Government guide to Awaab's Law for tenants
General information, checked against each source on 12 October 2026. It is not legal advice. Follow the links for the official wording.
Your rights
Potholes and roads
What the service must do
- Maintain the road. The council has a legal duty to maintain the roads it is responsible for. Highways Act 1980, section 41
- No automatic compensation. The council has a defence if it can prove it took reasonable care to keep the road safe. A court looks at whether the council knew, or should have known, that the road was dangerous. Highways Act 1980, section 58
- A refusal is not the final word. Both councils say they refuse most claims. That is the council's own decision, not a court's, and it does not mean the council is not liable. In court it is for the council to prove it took reasonable care. Highways Act 1980, section 58
What you can do
- Report it, and keep the date. A claim is stronger if the council had been told about the defect and did not act. Your record of when it was reported is evidence. Highways Act 1980, section 58
- Claim for damage or injury. You will need photographs of the defect and the damage, the place, date and time, and repair estimates or invoices. Hull City Council highway claim form East Riding of Yorkshire Council: insurance claims
- If the council refuses, you can challenge it. Ask it to explain in writing, and ask for its inspection and repair records for that stretch of road. If they show it knew and did not act in time, or did not inspect when it should have, you can take the claim to the small claims court. Get advice first. Hull City Council highway claim form East Riding of Yorkshire Council: insurance claims
General information, checked against each source on 12 October 2026. It is not legal advice. Follow the links for the official wording.
Before you rely on this
- It is a summary. Each point links to the official page it comes from. Read that before you act on it.
- It is not legal advice. For a claim or a court case, speak to Citizens Advice, a law centre or a solicitor.
- Rules change. These were checked in 12 October 2026.
- Asking first often works. A phone call to the practice manager, PALS or the repairs team sorts many problems faster than a complaint.