Hip replacement waiting times Wales-wide are not published for hips on their own, so the closest official figure is trauma and orthopaedics, the specialty that does hip and knee replacements. At the end of August 2026, 93,146 orthopaedic pathways were open in Wales, the median had waited 30.7 weeks from referral, and only 44.1% were within the 26-week target, against 64.2% for all specialties. Below are the Welsh Government's figures for every health board, the wait for the operation itself, how the list has changed in a year, and what a private hip replacement costs at hospitals in Wales.
Short answer
Wales does not publish hip replacement waits separately. For trauma and orthopaedics, which includes hip and knee replacements, the median open pathway at the end of August 2026 had waited 30.7 weeks since referral, and one in ten more than 82.5 weeks. 47,121 pathways were at the last stage, waiting for the operation itself, and 44.5% of those had waited over a year. Figures from StatsWales, published 22 October 2026.
- Orthopaedic pathways waiting
- 93,146 (August 2026)
- Median wait from referral
- 30.7 weeks; 90th centile 82.5 weeks
- Within 26 weeks
- 44.1% (target 95%)
- Waiting for the operation itself
- 47,121; 20,951 over a year
- Private hip replacement in Wales
- from £15,528 (Spire Cardiff) plus consultation
Hip replacement waiting times in Wales: the latest figures
The Welsh Government publishes referral-to-treatment waiting times every month on StatsWales, by specialty and health board. A pathway starts when the hospital receives your referral, usually from a GP, and the wait includes every appointment, test and scan before treatment. There is no separate count for hip replacements: they sit inside trauma and orthopaedics, with knee replacements and other bone and joint treatment. These are the orthopaedic figures for the end of August 2026 (StatsWales median waits and weeks waiting, published 22 October 2026, read 8 November 2026):
- Waiting: 93,146 orthopaedic pathways, about one in eight of the 714,218 pathways open across all specialties in Wales.
- Median wait: 30.7 weeks from referral, against 17.2 weeks for all specialties. One in ten had waited more than 82.5 weeks, about a year and seven months.
- Target: 44.1% were within 26 weeks, against a target of 95%. 41,726 had waited more than 36 weeks, which the target says should be none (Welsh Government).
- Long waits: 26,854 had waited over a year and 1,868 over two years.
A pathway is not a person: someone referred for both hips, or for a hip and a knee, can have two. The figures count the board that provides the treatment, not the one you live in.
The wait for the operation itself
StatsWales also splits the list by stage. At the end of August 2026, 33,486 orthopaedic pathways were waiting for a first outpatient appointment, most of them for less than 26 weeks. The longest waits are at the end: 47,121 pathways were waiting for the operation or procedure itself, and of those 20,951 (44.5%) had waited more than a year since referral and 1,366 more than two years. Only 26.5% of this group were within 26 weeks.
That is the group a hip replacement patient joins once the surgeon has agreed to operate. It has grown: a year earlier, in August 2025, 42,624 pathways were at this stage and 18,672 had waited over a year. The total orthopaedic list fell over the same year, from 103,517, and two-year waits fell from 2,141 to 1,868 (5,252 in August 2024). So the operation stage has grown even as the list as a whole shrank.
Orthopaedic waiting times by health board
Each card shows the board's open orthopaedic pathways, the median wait from referral, the share within 26 weeks, and how many are waiting for the operation itself.
Trauma and orthopaedics, all stages of the pathway, by board providing treatment, 31 August 2026. Medians rounded to whole weeks. Source: StatsWales and StatsWales weeks waiting, accredited official statistics, read 8 November 2026; next release 19 November 2026.
Hywel Dda had the longest median of the larger boards, 39.1 weeks, and also the largest share waiting over a year (36.5%); 67.7% of Hywel Dda's list was already at the operation stage. Betsi Cadwaladr, in north Wales, had 17,320 pathways and a median of 31.2 weeks. Cardiff and Vale had 14,210, with 433 waiting more than two years. Powys Teaching's own list is short (434 pathways); because the figures follow the board that treats you, they say little about the wait of a Powys resident treated by another board.
Private hip replacement prices in Wales
Three hospitals in Wales publish a self-pay price for a hip replacement. We read each page on 8 November 2026:
Spire's prices are minimum “from” prices that can rise with the consultant, the implant and your medical history; Nuffield says the same of its guide price and gives a fixed price after the first consultation.
These are close to the English hospitals we track, where the median lowest price is £16,356; the full list is in hip replacement cost in the UK. Each of them starts with its own consultation, priced above, before it confirms the operation and the final price. If you are weighing a hospital abroad, hip replacement waiting time vs going private or abroad compares the published price plus travel with the wait, and hip replacement abroad lists the hospitals by country.
What you can do while you wait
- Ask where you are on the listContact the hospital's waiting list office and ask for your stage and expected date.
- Report changesIf the pain or your mobility gets worse, tell your GP or the orthopaedic team so they can review how urgent you are.
- Price private treatmentAsk for a written self-pay quote that says what is included, from the first consultation to follow-up physiotherapy.
- Check the other nationsEach UK nation measures waits differently; our NHS waiting list tracker and hip replacement waiting times in Scotland explain how.