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Outpatient waiting times

Once we receive your referral from your GP, it goes through a process called ‘triage’ where we look to see the best way forward for you.

The three options at this stage are:

To send you for an appointment with a doctor/ nurse or other specialist for you
To send you for more testing, such as X-ray, MRI scan or other testing
To send advice and guidance to your GP and allow them to lead your care

For an appointment or testing, you will be contacted as soon as possible to offer you an appointment for the soonest time available. You will receive a confirmation letter of your appointment, which will tell you the day, date and time of the appointment. You may be asked to attend hospital for a face-to-face appointment or a virtual clinic, either over the telephone or using video calling technology such as Zoom.

We have a more detailed waiting time guide (in the table below) for the different departments and conditions. We aim to update this table on a monthly basis to make sure you have information that is as current as we can possibly provide.

Your specific waiting time will depend on your personal circumstances, your health, and the department that you need to see.

What to expect if you’re referred to us.

We have developed a short leaflet to give you some guidance on what to expect when you’re referred to us. This link takes you to our patients and visitors web page. What to expect if you're referred to us

Waiting time to first outpatient appointment at April 2023

Specialty	Clinic Type	Current wait time (Weeks)
Colorectal	Routine	33
General Surgery	Routine	3
ENT	Routine	29
	Voice	33
	Dizzy	0
Ophthalmology	Retinal	6
	General	0
	Paediatrics	21
	Occular Motility	22
	Oculoplastics	9
	Glaucoma	4
	Corneal	5
	Cataract	21
Orthopaedics	Shoulder & Elbow	32
	Hand & Wrist	30
	Hips	9
	Knees	25
	Foot & Ankle	28
	Paediatrics	42
Plastics	General	5
Urology	Routine	56
Vascular	Routine	42
Cardiology	Routine	0
Dermatology	Routine	60
Dermatology	Paediatrics Routine	27
Endocrinology	Routine	8
Gastroenterology	Routine	13
Hepatology	Routine	35
Hepatology
Nephrology	Routine	0
Neurology	Routine	8
Pain Management	Routine	36
Respiratory	Routine	19
Rheumatology	Routine	0
Gynaecology	General	36
	Menopause	44
	Peri-menopause	0
	Vulval	37
	Uro-gynae	42
	Hysteroscopy	10
Paediatrics	General	22
	Cardiology	19
	Respiratory	19
	Allergy	26

For more information click on the specialty name in the table which will take you to the relevant page on our website.

What to do while you are waiting

For advice and practical support to help you and those you care for stay well while waiting for surgery, visit:

Suffolk and North East Essex Wellbeing Support Services (sneewellbeing.org.uk).

What to do if your symptoms get worse

If your symptoms get worse while you are waiting for your appointment, test or operation, you should contact your GP or NHS 111 for advice.

For more information about the services that we have, please see our Services pages