Page updated January 2023
The pandemic has led to an increase in the number of people waiting for routine hospital treatment, and the length of time people are waiting for appointments.
We know it’s difficult for people who have problems that are causing them pain or preventing them getting on with their lives. We are prioritising people with the highest clinical need and those who have been waiting the longest.
It will take some time to address the backlog, but NHS staff are committed to getting people the care they need and getting the waiting lists down.
Hospital waiting list queries
If you are waiting for a hospital treatment and have questions, please contact the hospital directly. Please do not contact your GP surgery as they do not have access to details of waiting lists.
Please check referral/appointment letters for specific contact details. If you have not been given a contact point use the numbers in the boxes below. For other hospitals not listed please use the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) contact number that will be published on hospital websites.
The Dartford and Gravesham trust runs Queen Mary's Hospital and Darent Valley Hospital.
It has a Theatre Scheduling Team who can answer questions about waiting lists.
Queen Mary's Hospital
- Phone: 0208 302 2678 ext. 5438, 5437 and 5440
Darent Valley Hospital
- Phone: 01322 428100 ext. 8664, 8500, 8262 and 8921
Find out more about the Theatre Scheduling Team. This page includes an average waiting times dashboard for different treatment areas.
The trust runs William Harvey Hospital (Ashford), the Kent and Canterbury Hospital (Canterbury) and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital (Margate).
Queries about waiting lists for all three hospitals should be directed to the trust's PALS service on 01227 783145, by email ekh-tr.pals@nhs.net or the online form.
| Treatment area | Contact details |
|
Ear Nose and Throat |
mtw-tr.ENT-gpref@nhs.net |
| Ophthalmology Includes adult and paediatric |
mtw-tr.EYES-gpref@nhs.net |
|
Specialist Medicine and Elderly Care |
mtw-tr.genmed-gpref@nhs.net 01622 228219 |
|
Surgery |
mtw-tr.scauugi@nhs.net |
| Women and Children’s Includes adult and paediatric Gynaecology (not antenatal) and General Paediatrics |
mtw-tr.paediatricreferrals@nhs.net |
| Trauma and Orthopaedics Includes Paediatric Orthopaedics |
mtw-tr.ortho-gpref@nhs.net for fracture referrals only |
|
Surgical Speciality |
mtw-tr.urologycau@nhs.net |
For waiting list queries at Medway Maritime Hospital please contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service.
Email: medwayft.pals@nhs.net
Phone: 01634 825004
The service is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
Improvement actions
Significant work is happening across Kent and Medway to increase capacity for elective treatments, both inpatient and day case, including:
- a shared waiting list across all four acute trusts so patients facing the longest waits can be treated at other locations
- increased capacity to run theatres for longer hours and over weekends
- a new orthopaedic surgery unit at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital
- continued use of private hospitals to treat NHS patients
- investment in community rehabilitation beds so people can be discharged from hospital more quickly to allow others to be treated.
There is significant investment being made to help clear the waiting lists as quickly as possible. In 2021/22, the NHS in Kent and Medway invested £36.4m in elective care recovery schemes. Further investment of £49m is supporting our response to current pressure on urgent care services; this also helps to protect our ability to continue elective care.
The NHS in Kent and Medway has received £34.7million in new capital funding, allocated across a three-year period, to create Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) across Kent and Medway.
Work is happening in each Health and Care Partnership (HCP) area in Kent and Medway to plan and prepare for Community Diagnostic Centres. This includes engaging with people from those areas, identifying potential locations, assuring computer systems are established and can link with each other, and improving patient care pathways.
Different areas in Kent and Medway will have different approaches, relevant to the local need and population. They will also work to slightly different timescales. However, the CDCs will operate as a network across Kent and Medway so that patients can access diagnostic tests in a location convenient to them.
NHS Kent and Medway has been successful in opening two early adopter CDCs located at Hermitage Court in Maidstone and Buckland Community Hospital in Dover.
While both CDCs are operational, further work is in progress to establish them as fully functioning CDCs in line with national requirements.
Thousands of people are already able to access diagnostic tests nearer to their homes, so they can start any treatment needed. CDCs are helping to keep acute services in Maidstone and East Kent available for emergency and elective patients.