Foot and ankle surgery waiting times: how long, and how to be seen faster

“Foot and ankle” is a sub-specialty within orthopaedic surgery, and it covers a wide range of very different operations. The ones people most often wait for are:

• Bunion (hallux valgus) correction. Straightening the big toe by cutting and realigning the bone (an osteotomy). It is planned, non-urgent surgery for a painful, deforming bunion, and it is one of the most commonly requested foot operations.
• Achilles tendon repair. Repairing or reconstructing the large tendon at the back of the ankle, most often after a rupture. (An acute rupture is urgent — see the safety note below — but longstanding Achilles problems are treated on a planned list.)
• Ankle ligament reconstruction.Tightening or rebuilding the ligaments on the outside of the ankle for people left with a repeatedly “giving-way”, unstable ankle after recurrent sprains.
• Lesser-toe deformities. Correcting hammer, claw and mallet toes and related problems in the smaller toes, often where rubbing on footwear has become painful.
• Ankle arthroscopy. Keyhole surgery that uses a small camera to look inside the ankle joint and treat problems such as trapped tissue, loose fragments or cartilage damage.

You can look up the current waits and every hospital ranked by distance on the procedure pages for bunion surgery, Achilles tendon repair, ankle ligament repair and foot surgery generally.

One important thing to separate out. A sudden pop or snap in the back of the calf or heel, followed by difficulty walking or pushing off the foot, can be an acute Achilles tendon rupture. That is an urgent, same-day assessment — go to A&E or call NHS 111 — not something to add to a planned waiting list, because how it is treated can depend on being seen quickly. Everything else in this guide is about planned, listed surgery, which is a completely separate pathway.

People search for “the” foot or bunion surgery waiting time as if there is one number. There is not. Foot and ankle surgery is reported inside NHS Trauma & Orthopaedicsdata, and the wait is set by the individual NHS trust your referral lands at. The spread between trusts is large: for the same kind of operation, one hospital's median wait can be several times another's, often for hospitals within easy travelling distance of each other.

Because these figures move every month, the useful thing is to look up your own area rather than trust a number in an article. You can see every English trust's current orthopaedic wait, ranked shortest first:

Compare foot & ankle (orthopaedic) waits by hospital

The usual route is straightforward. Your GP refers you to an orthopaedic outpatient clinic — often a foot and ankle sub-specialty clinic — where a surgeon assesses you, usually with an X-ray or scan, and decides whether an operation is the right next step. If it is, you are listed for surgery and join the waiting list from that point.

A lot of foot and ankle surgery is done as a day case: bunion correction, lesser-toe surgery and ankle arthroscopy usually mean going home the same day, often in a protective boot or shoe rather than a plaster cast. Larger reconstructions, such as a major Achilles repair or ankle ligament reconstruction, can involve a longer recovery. Being a day case does not make the wait shorter, though — it still depends on which hospital's list you are on.

This is the part most patients are never told. In England you have a legal right, at the point your GP refers you, to choose which hospital you are sent to for a planned operation like bunion or ankle surgery — and that includes choosing one with a shorter waiting list. It is called the NHS Right to Choose, and it costs nothing.

In practice, most referrals go to the nearest hospital by default, even when somewhere nearby is treating people far sooner. If you would rather be seen faster, you can ask. The site even drafts the letter to take to your GP:

How the Right to Choose works

Generate a Right-to-Choose letter for your GP

1. Look up the current waits near you on the bunion surgery or foot surgery page — enter your postcode and see every hospital ranked by wait and distance.
2. Weigh a shorter wait against travel. Follow-up appointments, dressing changes and physiotherapy happen at the operating hospital too, so a much further hospital is a real trade-off. Talk it through with your GP.
3. If a faster hospital suits you, ask your GP to refer you there under Right to Choose. Take the drafted letter with you.

Some people decide to pay for private foot or ankle surgery to avoid a long wait, and for some that is the right call — a number of patients also have private medical insurance through work that they had forgotten covers it. If you are weighing that up, it is worth doing it with clear eyes: self-pay prices vary a lot by procedure and provider (a day-case bunion correction and a major ankle reconstruction are very different jobs), so get current quotes directly rather than trusting a fixed figure.

One thing worth checking first, though: whether a faster NHS trust is actually available to you under your Right to Choose. Many people pay for a wait they could have shortened for free. The comparison tool shows both, so you can make the decision knowing what the free route would have got you.

How long is the NHS wait for bunion surgery?

There is no single national number. Bunion (hallux valgus) correction is planned, non-urgent surgery, so it sits at the routine end of the list and the wait is set by the individual NHS trust your referral lands at. Those waits vary several-fold — the slowest trusts can be many months behind the fastest ones a similar distance away. Because the figure changes every month, look up your own area: foot and ankle surgery is reported within Trauma & Orthopaedics at hospitalwaits.co.uk/national/trauma-orthopaedics.

Is foot or ankle surgery done as a day case?

Very often, yes. Many foot and ankle operations — bunion correction, lesser-toe deformity surgery and ankle arthroscopy among them — are done as day cases, meaning you go home the same day, usually in a protective boot or shoe rather than a plaster cast. Larger reconstructions, such as a major Achilles tendon repair or an ankle ligament reconstruction, may involve a longer recovery and occasionally an overnight stay. Your surgeon will tell you which applies to your operation.

Can I choose a hospital with a shorter foot and ankle wait?

Yes. In England you have a legal right, at the point your GP refers you, to choose which hospital or clinic you are sent to for planned surgery — including one with a shorter waiting list. This is the NHS 'Right to Choose'. Most patients are never told about it and simply go to their nearest hospital by default, even when a hospital a short drive away is treating people sooner. It costs nothing to ask.

I heard a pop in my heel and now can't walk properly — is that a waiting-list problem?

No — that needs urgent, same-day assessment, not a planned waiting list. A sudden pop or snap in the back of the calf or heel followed by difficulty walking or pushing off can be an acute Achilles tendon rupture, and how it is treated depends partly on being seen quickly. Go to A&E or call NHS 111 the same day. This guide is about planned, listed foot and ankle surgery, which is a different pathway entirely.

Everything on HospitalWaits comes from NHS England's own monthly Referral-to-Treatment data, and every figure links to its NHS source so you can check it. Foot and ankle surgery is reported within the Trauma & Orthopaedics specialty. The methodology, including the known limitations, is public. Nothing here is medical advice — the site surfaces the published waiting-time data so you and your GP can use it.