Abstract Aims To understand the general surgical waiting times at NMGH. To estimate the degree of mismatch among the original booking consultant and performing surgeon. To accurately assess the median waiting times for each type of surgery. Methods Retrospective observational study. Data collected include date of surgery, date of listing for surgery, consultant listing for surgery and name of surgeon performing procedure, MRN, age, sex and type of surgery. Times calculated from the original listing for surgery in the clinic or during inpatient and actual date of surgery. Results Total patients included in the study were 330. Overall median delay for all the surgical cases was 345.5 days (49.35 weeks). 173 female patients and 157 male patients were included. Patients’ records were checked for any cancellations or refusal for surgery, but most did not present any reason for delay and hence the date of booking and surgery done were recorded. Conclusion Overall colorectal waiting time at NMGH is median 393.5 days (56.2 weeks), mean time of 298.6 days (42.6 weeks) which is higher than MFT mean time of 26 weeks. Overall, for colorectal cases, about 62 % of times, the booking Consultant is the operating surgeon. Overall General Surgery waiting time at NMGH is median 356.6 days (50.9 weeks), mean 318 days (45.4 weeks) which is higher than MFT mean waiting time of 33 weeks. Median waiting time for lap chole is 369.5 days (52.7 weeks), mean 317.6 days (45.3 weeks) which is within the NHS standards of 18 to 52 weeks (1). West Suffolk NHS foundation Trust has published the mean waiting time of 53 weeks.