Waiting for a hip replacement on the NHS: how to use the time

Being told you need a new hip and then being put on a waiting list can feel like being asked to sit still for months. The NHS does not see it that way. Its page on preparing for a hip replacement lists the things your doctor may talk to you about, then says: "It’s important to do these things while you wait for a hip replacement because waiting lists can be long. This is because these things may lower your risks of complications and speed your recovery time."

Some of that work is about the wait itself, and some is about the weeks after the operation, which are much easier to arrange before you are home on crutches.

Where you are on the list

There is no national queue for hip replacements with your number in it. NHS England publishes waiting times by specialty, and most hip replacements are counted in trauma and orthopaedics, the same list as knee replacements and other bone and joint problems.

Our hip replacement page ranks hospitals by their wait on that orthopaedic list and says which month each figure comes from. Each hospital's figure covers everyone on its orthopaedic list, whatever their operation, and it counts how long people have waited so far, so someone referred today will often wait longer than the number shown. Why the figures differ so much between hospitals is covered in our hip and knee replacement guide.

For your own referral, ask the hospital's booking team. The NHS's My Planned Care site also gives waiting times by hospital. It says it is "updated weekly", and it asks: "If you are looking for an update, please check this website before contacting your hospital or GP." Our guide to how the NHS waiting list works explains when the clock starts and how hospitals run their lists.

If you have waited, or will wait, more than 18 weeks

Once you are on the list, the NHS Choice Framework says you can ask to be referred to a different provider of NHS services if "you have to wait, or have already waited, more than 18 weeks before starting treatment or assessment for a physical or mental health condition, as long as your referral is not urgent and the service you require is led by a consultant".

To ask, "you can contact the service providing your treatment or the ICB that is responsible for arranging your treatment". Your ICB, or integrated care board, is the NHS body that plans and buys NHS services for your area. The framework adds that "It may not always be possible to change your provider", and it lists exceptions. One of them matters to anyone getting ready for this operation: the right does not apply if "delaying the start of your treatment is in your best interests - for example, if you need to lose weight or stop smoking, or for other personal medical reasons, before treatment can start". If your surgical team has asked you to do either before the operation, ask them whether that exception applies to you.

If your GP has not referred you yet, you have a choice at that point too. The same framework says that if you are referred for consultant-led treatment you can "decide which provider you would like to receive care from as an outpatient", and that this choice applies only at the point of referral. Our Right to Choose guide explains how to use it, and the GP letter tool drafts the request for you.

What the NHS asks you to work on

The NHS page on preparing for the operation opens with this: "Before your hip replacement, your doctor will talk to you about the things you can do to prepare." Its list covers "muscle strengthening exercises to do before and after the surgery that will help with your recovery", "losing weight if you are overweight", "stopping smoking", and "having a healthy diet and sticking to the recommended weekly limits on alcohol units".

What suits your hip is for your own team to say. If nobody has raised exercise with you yet, it is a fair question for your GP or the hospital. My Planned Care has a section on looking after yourself while you wait, which begins: "It can be difficult when you are waiting for an operation. However, there are things you can do while you are waiting to plan and prepare for your surgery." Its pages run from staying active and sleep to money worries and support for carers.

Andrew Lee Ward, a powerlifter who had his right hip replaced at 35 and wrote about it in detail, makes the same point from the patient's side: "I mention this because your fitness level before surgery can impact your recovery. However, remember this is just my story. Everyone’s experience will be different."

A few weeks before the operation you will probably be asked to a pre-admission clinic. The NHS says this "is to make sure you’re well enough for surgery to go ahead", and that you "may need to have a blood test, X-rays, a urine (pee) test to check for infections, or an electrocardiogram (ECG) to check your heart health". You may also meet the team who will look after you, and you can ask them anything you are unsure about.

Planning for the weeks after the operation

The wait is also the easiest time to get home life ready, and the NHS's suggestions for it are practical ones. Ask for any help you will need with day-to-day jobs, and put the things you use often where you can reach them. Stock the freezer with cooked meals. If you work, talk to your employer about a plan for going back. Equipment such as a raised toilet seat can be borrowed, hired or bought, and your care team should be able to tell you where. And arrange transport, "as you’ll be unable to drive for at least 6 weeks after the operation".

On timings, the NHS's recovery page says "If you are generally fit and the surgery went well then you can usually go home around 1 to 3 days after the operation." Going back to work "usually takes about 6 weeks, but will depend on the type of work you do", and there is a follow-up appointment "around 6 to 12 weeks after your surgery". Overall, "It may take several months to recover from a hip replacement."

Andrew runs his own business, and he planned for weeks off while hoping for less: "I prepared for a four to six-week recovery before returning to the gym or work, hoping for a quicker return, which luckily happened for me."

One patient's account of the first weeks

Andrew had the operation two weeks after competing at the 2024 World Bench Press Championships. He found accounts from older patients but almost nothing from young athletes like him, so he kept a day-by-day surgery diary and, three months on, wrote a Q&A about his recovery, which the diary links to. The diary follows him from the days before the operation through his first week at home, a setback between days 10 and 15, the six-week check and his return to heavy lifting. It is detailed: how the first nights went, the exercises the physio gave him and how they progressed, and how he eased back into work in one-hour stretches.

Read it knowing whose recovery it is. He calls it "a relatively rapid recovery", and he was back at his computer on the Monday after a Thursday operation. He says plainly who it is most likely to match: "I hope this day-by-day diary gives people an idea of what to expect if they are relatively young, fit, and healthy." And near the top he adds: "Always trust your surgeon’s advice over anything you read online, especially when things are anecdotal like this article."

If something feels urgent

In an emergency call 999. Unsure where to go? Call 111 or use 111.nhs.uk. This article is about routine NHS waiting lists for planned care. It is not a guide to symptoms that need urgent attention, and it is not medical advice: what is right for your hip is a conversation with your GP and the team treating you.