Referral Information

The Royal Surrey County Hospital

If you have been referred to the Royal Surrey County Hospital, this page may help answer some of your questions

I have been referred to the hospital, how long might I wait before I am seen?

The Royal Surrey are experiencing a significant backlog in appointments for some of their services following their response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

They would like to reassure you they are doing everything in their power to work through their lists to give you the help that you need. They are making good progress and have significantly reduced the number of patients classed as long waiters.

The hospital has provided estimated waiting times for patients which can be found at NHS Royal Surrey.

If you have any concerns or questions please use the contact details on your hospital letter, or if you do not have a letter with these contact details, you can contact their Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), they will be able to answer your queries.

I have been referred to the hospital and I think I should have received an appointment by now, what should I do?

It is best to contact the hospital directly. You may have received a letter acknowledging the referral and there will be a telephone number on this letter, you can use this to call and check that your referral is in process and not got lost somehow.

If you have not received a letter then we suggest the best course of action would be to contact their Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). All hospitals have a PALS which is there to help you communicate with the hospital when you have difficulties.

If your problem is clinically urgent then we can ask for an urgent appointment, which will usually be a bit quicker, but obviously the hospital has to balance the urgency of your problem with that of all the other patients who are waiting to be seen.

Otherwise the hospital ask that unless there has been a change in your symptoms, you do not contact us to ask them to speed up the process.

Other information about attending outpatient appointments

There is a lot more information on the Royal Surrey website including how they will communicate with you, how to cancel or rearrange, what to do if you need an interpreter or signer, what to do on the day of the appointment and parking. You can access this information by visiting NHS Royal Surrey.