Hip replacement waiting times Scotland: the latest NHS board figures

Hip replacement waiting times Scotland-wide are not published for hips alone, so the closest official figure is trauma and orthopaedics, the specialty that does hip and knee replacements. Of the 3,956 orthopaedic patients admitted for an operation in September 2026, the median wait from the decision to operate was 210 days, about 30 weeks, and only 25.7% were treated within the 12 weeks of the Treatment Time Guarantee. Below are Public Health Scotland's figures for every NHS board, including Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the NHS Golden Jubilee national hospital, the wait for the first appointment, and what a private hip replacement costs if you would rather not wait.

Hip replacement waiting times in Scotland: the latest figures

Public Health Scotland publishes waiting times for planned care every month, by specialty and by NHS board. It does not split out individual operations, so hip replacements are counted inside trauma and orthopaedics, together with knee replacements, foot, hand and spine surgery and other bone and joint operations. These are the figures for orthopaedic inpatients and day cases at 30 September 2026 (Public Health Scotland open data, read 8 November 2026):

• Treated in September 2026: 3,956 people, after a median wait of 210 days from the decision to treat. One in ten had waited more than 454 days, about 65 weeks.
• Within 12 weeks: 25.7% were treated within the 12 weeks of the Treatment Time Guarantee, against 53.7% across all specialties. Orthopaedics is the slowest of the large specialties.
• Still waiting: 41,486 people, with a median wait so far of 149 days. 4,267 had waited more than a year and 402 more than two years.
• A year earlier: in September 2025, 43,955 were waiting and 7,686 over a year; in September 2024, 12,174 had waited over a year. The longest waits have come down sharply, but the median wait of people treated has not: it was 190 days a year ago.

The clock for these figures starts when you and your consultant agree to the operation. Before that comes a separate wait for the first appointment with the orthopaedic team: 60,356 people were waiting for one on 30 September 2026, with a median wait so far of 98 days, and 1,450 had waited over a year. Add the two and the time from GP referral to a new hip is usually much longer than either number alone.

Orthopaedic waiting times by NHS board

The figures are by the board where you are treated, not where you live. A patient from Lanarkshire who has the operation at the Golden Jubilee is counted under the Golden Jubilee. Each card shows people still waiting at 30 September 2026, their median wait so far, and the median wait of the people the board treated in September 2026.

Trauma and orthopaedics, inpatient and day case. Weeks are days divided by 7 and rounded. “Within 12 weeks” is our sum from the over-12-weeks column. Shetland (1 person waiting) and a small unlabelled code are left out. Board names from Public Health Scotland geography codes. Source: Public Health Scotland, September 2026 open data, read 8 November 2026; next release 24 November 2026.

Among the larger boards, Grampian had the longest median wait so far (211 days) and also the largest share waiting over a year (26.9%, 1,098 people). Tayside's patients treated in September 2026 had waited a median 350 days. Highland had the shortest median of the larger boards, 76 days, and treated 51.9% of its patients within 12 weeks. Lothian, which covers Edinburgh, had 4,433 waiting with a median of 125 days.

Hip replacement waiting times in Glasgow

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has the largest orthopaedic list in Scotland: 10,974 people on 30 September 2026, a median wait so far of 132 days (about 19 weeks) and 567 waiting over a year. The 881 people it treated in September 2026 had waited a median 225 days, and 21% were treated within 12 weeks.

Patients from Glasgow and elsewhere may also be treated at the NHS Golden Jubilee in Clydebank, which calls itself a national resource for patients across Scotland. It says it did 4,308 hip and knee replacements in 2024/25, more than any other UK centre according to the National Joint Registry, and was on track for more than 5,900 in 2025/26 (NHS Golden Jubilee). On 30 September 2026 it had 2,056 orthopaedic patients waiting, with a median wait so far of 245 days, and it treated 380 in September 2026, 61.8% of them within 12 weeks. Its list holds patients referred on from their home board, so their wait there is not the whole wait.

The 12-week Treatment Time Guarantee

The Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 gives a Treatment Time Guarantee: planned inpatient or day case treatment should start within 12 weeks of the date you and the clinician agree to it (section 8). To meet it, the board must take all reasonably practicable steps, which can include treating you through another board or another provider. If it is missed, the board must arrange your treatment at the next available opportunity, explain why it was late and tell you about the advice and support available, including the Patient Advice and Support Service; it does not promise compensation or payment for private treatment at home or abroad (section 10). In September 2026, 25.7% of orthopaedic patients were treated within the 12 weeks.

If you are on the list, ask the hospital for your expected date and whether you could be treated sooner at another site, including the Golden Jubilee. If your hip gets worse, tell your GP or the orthopaedic team: they can review how urgent your referral is.

Paying for a hip replacement instead

Nuffield Health Glasgow Hospital gives a guide price of £14,897 for a hip replacement, covering pre-assessment, the operation and post-discharge care, plus an initial consultation from £160 (£15,057 together); a robotic-assisted hip is £16,745 (Nuffield Health Glasgow, read 8 November 2026). The hospital says the final price can change with the consultant, the implant and your medical history, and gives a fixed price after the first consultation.

For comparison, the median of the lowest self-pay prices at the 10 English hospitals and groups we track is £16,356, and Practice Plus Group charges a fixed £13,199 in England. All of them are listed in hip replacement cost in the UK. Abroad, the cheapest published hospital price we track is in Poland: about £5,680 with a rough flight and hotel. Whether that is worth it depends on how long your wait is and how well you can travel after the operation; hip replacement waiting time vs going private or abroad lays out the trade-off, and flying after hip replacement covers when you can fly home.

The rest of Scotland's waiting times, specialty by specialty, are on NHS Scotland waiting times.