"My experience of an orthopaedic referral"

Initial x-rays taken in summer of 2024 showed that I had mild/moderate osteoarthritis in my hip.  Within a few months of these x-rays, the pain I was experiencing continually worsened, and I returned to my GP in March 2025.  My GP sent me for further x-rays and at that time also referred me to NHS Lanarkshire orthopaedic department.

The x-ray results came in around six weeks later showing that my condition had very quickly developed and that I had complete 4-way OA with osteophytes (bony spurs) and a Cam deformity.  I was advised over the phone by my GP practice, that since a referral to orthopaedics had already been made, the next steps were to wait for contact from the orthopaedic department.

I visited my GP again in late May due to the significant impact that my condition was having on my day to day life and work and because I was suffering badly from sleep deprivation due to pain.  At this appointment, my GP thoroughly went over my x-ray report from Radiology, and said that whilst they were not an expert in orthopaedics, in their opinion, I needed surgery on my hip.

My GP asked if I had private health insurance (advising me that it could take more than a year to wait before the orthopaedic department would get me in for an initial consultation).  I do not have private health insurance, but I made the decision to seek a private orthopaedic consultation in the first instance so that I would have expert advice about what my condition meant, and to see what options I might have to better manage my condition until I was seen by an NHS Lanarkshire orthopaedic consultant.

At the private consultation, I was told that given the advanced state of my condition, there was nothing that could be done to better manage this, and that I needed surgery urgently to prevent my condition worsening.  It was their opinion that I could, before long, require a wheelchair. 

(As background, it might be helpful to state, that I have been a very fit and active person all my life.  I am not overweight and I am physically strong and healthy.  I am in my 50's and work full time).

I made the decision to phone NHS Lanarkshire Referral Management to ask where I was on the referral list, and to get a more accurate idea of how long I might wait for an appointment.  Referral Management were extremely helpful and supportive.  They looked at my case and advised that I was on the routine waiting list, which meant that I would likely be seen within 82 weeks.

I explained to the wonderful employee at Referral Management about the outcome of my most recent x-rays and was advised by them, that the orthopaedic department would not have that information.  I was told that there was a note on my referral stating that further x-rays had been ordered and the employee in Referral Management told me that the glitch in the system was that additional results of tests (after an initial referral was made) were not automatically sent to the orthopaedic department, but that the GP should use the Sky Gateway to update the referral to urgent instead of routine.  The employee at Referral Management said that often, GPs didn't know to do this and that the orthopaedic department would never revisit the referral information unless they were requested to do so by the GP.  Obviously now, armed with this knowledge, I have made contact with my GP surgery to tell them about this.

On the one hand, I have a consultant expert advising me that unless I have surgery fairly quickly, my already diminished physical capabilities will further reduce and I may need to use a wheelchair in the not too distant future.  On the other hand, I am in a system which has glitches and so the urgency of my condition is not being flagged in a timely fashion to the right place.  

I am an individual who has dedicated my life to working in health and social care, keeping people safe and healthy living in their own communities, and reducing their demand on health and care services.  My GP already considers that I should not be working, but with an 82 week waiting list, how can I go off work (and still expect to have a job at the end of it?).  

I think that I would be able to contribute more to society if I were fit and well myself, and yet this would not appear to be on the horizon in my near future.  At this point, it looks as though I too could become a statistic on a wait-list becoming more and more dependent on our health and social care system myself...

Surely, there must be a better way of sorting out prioritisation for orthopaedic surgery?