Expediting Hospital Appointments

Expediting Hospital Appointments

Waiting for a hospital appointment: referrals and appointment updates
 
We know that many patients are facing long waits for NHS appointments. We understand how worrying and frustrating this can be, particularly when you do not know when you will be seen.
 
Why we are changing how we handle appointment enquiries
In our experience, contacting hospitals simply to chase an appointment rarely brings the appointment forward. However, these enquiries take up a significant amount of our secretarial team’s time and have contributed to delays in processing new referrals.
 
To help us send referrals promptly, we are pausing routine appointment-chasing where the referral has already been sent and there has been no significant change in your clinical condition. This means we will no longer routinely contact hospitals solely to ask when an appointment will be offered. This change is about routine administrative updates. It does not mean that you should avoid contacting us about worsening symptoms or a problem with your referral.
 
Our referral targets
Our current aim is to send:
  • Routine referrals within five days.
  • Urgent referrals, including referrals for suspected cancer, within 24–48 hours, or sooner where clinically necessary.
These are our targets for sending your referral, not the time within which your hospital appointment will take place.
 
Who to contact about your hospital appointment
If you are unsure when your appointment will be, or would like an update on your referral, please contact the appointments or booking team at the hospital or service you have been referred to. Use the contact details on your referral or hospital correspondence, or those listed on the hospital’s website.
 
If you cannot get the help you need from the appointments team, please contact that hospital’s Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) for help with your enquiry or concern. PALS supports patients and families with questions and difficulties involving hospital services.
 
Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust — PALS
Telephone: 01296 831120
Email: bht.pals@nhs.net
If your call is not answered, please leave an answerphone message.
For care provided by a different NHS trust, please contact that trust’s own PALS team.
 
When you should still contact the practice
Please contact us if your symptoms worsen, you develop new symptoms, or your condition changes significantly while you are waiting. A clinician can review your situation and decide whether your referral needs to be updated.
 
Please also let us know if the hospital says it has not received your referral, or if you have not heard about an urgent referral within the timeframe you were given, so that we can check.
 
Thank you for your understanding and for helping us prioritise timely referrals. We remain here to support your health while you wait.

Page created: 18 September 2026