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Waiting times for knee and hip surgery in Sweden
This page is for you if you are queuing for a knee or hip replacement in Sweden, or have just been told roughly how long it will be. It covers where the real figures live, what the healthcare guarantee does and does not promise, and the two things worth doing while you wait.
Quick answer
Waiting times for planned knee and hip replacement differ substantially between Swedish regions; current reported figures by region and procedure are published at vantetider.se. The healthcare guarantee sets two separate 90-day limits — one to a first specialist visit once the clinic decides specialist care is needed, one to treatment once the decision to treat is made — and both run from a decision rather than from when you first sought care. If the limits are exceeded, 1177 states you shall be offered care at another clinic. Chapter 9, section 1 of the Patient Act separately lets you choose a publicly funded provider in a region with a shorter queue.
Why this page does not print a number
Waiting times change quarterly and differ by region, by clinic and by how your case has been prioritised. A figure published here would be wrong within months and would tell you nothing about your own queue in any case. The reliable source is vantetider.se, which publishes what regions have actually reported — look up your region and your procedure there.
What is stable enough to state is the shape: the spread between the fastest and slowest Swedish regions for the same planned orthopaedic procedure is wide enough that changing region is a real option rather than a technicality.
Two things worth doing while you wait
- Check another region. Chapter 9, section 1 gives you the choice. You follow that region's referral rules, pay the patient fee it charges, normally cover your own travel, and the healthcare guarantee stays with your home region. Weigh that against the months.
- Settle what you are consenting to. The wait is the time in which an independent assessment is least disruptive. When the date comes, the useful position is knowing why this operation, why now, and what the alternatives were — rather than deciding all of that in the week before.
How Andrabedomning.se fits in
Andrabedomning.se is an independent Swedish patient guidance service. You describe your situation in a request — in English — and a person reads it and replies, normally within one working day, with information about relevant specialist contact. If we cannot help, you get an explanation of why and where to turn instead. We do not diagnose or provide medical care. Records go directly to the care provider, never to us.
Sending a request is free and commits you to nothing. If we can coordinate a suitable specialist contact, two amounts are disclosed to you in writing before anything is booked: our coordination fee (samordningsavgift), which is our only source of revenue, and the specialist's fee, which is set by the care provider and paid directly to them. We take no commissions or referral fees from specialists or clinics. How it works in full →
Andrabedomning.se coordinates the contact. The medical assessment is made by the specialist and care provider you choose.
Frequently asked questions about waiting times
Where can I look up the current waiting time for my region?
Väntetider i vården (vantetider.se), run by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, publishes reported waiting times per region and per procedure. It is the source the figures in news coverage come from. Read it as a description of what has been reported recently, not as a prediction of your own wait, which depends on your priority grading and the clinic you are referred to.
Why do the regions differ so much for the same operation?
Capacity, staffing and referral volume differ, and each region prioritises within its own queue. The practical consequence is the useful part: chapter 9, section 1 of the Patient Act lets you choose a publicly funded outpatient provider in another region, so a long queue at home is not necessarily the end of the matter.
Does the 90-day guarantee cover the operation itself?
There are two separate 90-day limits: one for a first visit in specialist care once the clinic decides you need it, and one for treatment once the decision to treat has been made. Both run from a decision, not from when you first sought care. Waiting for imaging, for a referral to be assessed, or for a primary care appointment sits outside the guarantee entirely.
What happens if my region exceeds the limit?
1177 states that if the clinic cannot provide care within the guarantee's time limits, you shall be offered care at another clinic. In practice you generally have to ask. Each region has a function for this, often called a vårdgarantikansli or vårdlots, and contacting them directly works better than waiting to be contacted.
Should I use the wait to get a second opinion?
It is often the best available use of it. You are already in a queue; obtaining an independent assessment does not usually cost you the place, and it means that when the date arrives you know what you are consenting to. Ask the clinic explicitly whether seeking a second assessment affects your queue position — the answer is normally no, but it is worth having in writing.
Does a private assessment shorten my public waiting time?
No. A private assessment is a separate service and does not move you in a public queue. What it can do is tell you whether the operation you are queuing for is the right one, and whether waiting is medically reasonable in your case. Those are different questions from how long the queue is, and more useful ones.
Sources
- Väntetider i vården (SKR) — reported waiting times by region and procedure, including planned orthopaedic surgery.
- 1177 — Vårdgaranti — the two 90-day limits, when each clock starts, and the duty to offer care at another clinic if they are missed.
- Patient Act (patientlagen 2014:821), chapter 9, section 1 — the right to choose a publicly funded outpatient provider in a region with a shorter queue.
Editorially produced by Andrabedomning.se from the primary sources above. Sources last checked: 4 August 2026.
Related pages
- The healthcare guarantee explained
The four limits and the point where each clock starts.
- Choosing care in another region
The route that lets you leave a long queue behind.
- Before a knee replacement
What to settle while you wait.
- Before a hip replacement
The diagnostic question worth answering before the date arrives.
Waiting, and unsure the operation is the right one?
Describe your situation in a few sentences and tell us which assessment or recommendation you have already received. Sending a request is free. If we can coordinate a suitable specialist contact, our coordination fee and the specialist's separate fee are disclosed in writing before you decide whether to book.
Describe your orthopaedic case
In an emergency, call 112. For non-urgent medical advice, call 1177.