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Treatment in China · Hip & knee replacement

Hip and knee replacement in China — for patients coming from abroad

If you have been given a date you cannot live with, or no date at all, this page explains what coming to China would actually involve — in days, not adjectives.

Message us on WhatsApp Start with a case review

A real person replies within 12 hours — not a bot, and we never cold-call.

What waiting looks like where you are

These are other people's numbers, not ours — published by the bodies that count them. We have kept each one at the scope it was measured at, and included the part that cuts against us, because a statistic quoted one-sidedly is not evidence.

United Kingdom. 7.1 million treatment pathways were waiting to start treatment in England, and 65.3% had been waiting up to 18 weeks — against a 92% standard. 94,406 had been waiting more than a year.
What this figure covers: All specialties in England, not orthopaedics specifically. End of March 2026.
The other side: The list is shrinking: 4.2% smaller than a year earlier, and the 18-week figure improved by 5.5 percentage points.
Source: NHS England, Referral to Treatment Statistical Press Notice · March 2026 data, published 14 May 2026
Canada. The median wait from GP referral to treatment was 28.6 weeks across all specialties — and 48.6 weeks for orthopaedic surgery, the second longest of any specialty.
What this figure covers: A survey of physicians, not an administrative count. The orthopaedic figure is specialty-specific; the 28.6 weeks is not.
The other side: Down from 30.0 weeks in 2024. Provincial spread is enormous — 19.2 weeks in Ontario, 60.9 in New Brunswick.
Source: Fraser Institute, Waiting Your Turn 2025 (annual physician survey — a think tank, not a government statistic) · Published 9 December 2025 · Note: a think-tank survey, not an official statistic.
Australia. In public hospitals, half of elective surgery patients were admitted within 45 days — but 10% waited longer than 329 days.
What this figure covers: All elective surgery nationally, not a single procedure. Reference year 2024-25.
The other side: A decade earlier those figures were 38 and 263 days, so the trend is the wrong way — but the median itself is short.
Source: Productivity Commission, Report on Government Services 2026, ch. 12 · Reference year 2024-25

Checked August 2026. These are published on a monthly or annual cycle and we re-check them each quarter. None of them says anything about the quality of care you would get in either country — only how long people wait.

How long it takes

Two halves. Ours is a promise we already publish site-wide. The hospital's half is theirs to set, and we will not put a number on it for them.

WhenWhat happens
Within 12 hoursA real person replies — not a bot, and never a cold call afterwards.
Within 48 hoursA written response: whether a hospital here can help, what it would involve, roughly how long you would be in China, and what the bill is made of. If the answer is that you should stay at home, that is what it will say.
How many days you would be in China — we have not published a figure here, on purpose. It depends on your case and the hospital sets it, so a number on this page would be a guess dressed up as information. It is the first thing we confirm in writing after a case review, before you book a flight. If another provider gives you a confident figure before anyone has seen your records, ask them who told them.

What the bill is made of

We publish what the parts are before we can publish what they cost. The treatment figure comes from the hospital, per case, once a clinician has seen your records — and our own fee is quoted to you as its own line rather than folded into theirs.

  • The hospital’s own charge for surgery, implant, theatre and inpatient stay — quoted by them, per case, once a surgeon has seen your records.
  • Imaging or tests they need to repeat on arrival. Films taken abroad are often not enough to operate from.
  • Physiotherapy and follow-up while you are here.
  • Our coordination fee — quoted with your plan, so you see it as a separate line and not buried in a treatment price.

Not included:

  • Flights, visas and accommodation — we arrange them, you pay the supplier directly.
  • Anything the hospital finds on examination that changes the plan. If that happens we tell you the moment we know, not afterwards.
  • Treatment at home before or after your trip.

When we will tell you not to come

Not a disclaimer. These are the cases we turn away, and you should check yourself against them before spending any more time on this.

  • Your surgery is already scheduled at home within a timeframe your surgeon considers safe. Take the date.
  • You have been told you are not yet a surgical candidate. A flight does not change that assessment.
  • You cannot stay for the full recovery and early rehabilitation period. Flying too soon after a joint replacement carries a clot risk — this is the single most common reason we say no.
  • You need long-term revision follow-up and have no plan for who provides it at home.

Start with the records you already have.

A person replies within 12 hours; a written answer follows within 48 hours — including if that answer is to stay where you are.

Message us on WhatsApp How a case review works

Questions

No. We are not clinicians and we do not read your imaging. A surgeon at the hospital makes that call. What we can do is tell you what the process, the timeline and the bill would look like if they agree you are a candidate.
We will not guess at this. It depends on the joint, your general health and how early rehabilitation goes, and it is the hospital that sets it. It is the first thing we confirm in writing, before you book anything.
Your own doctor or surgeon. We send you home with English-language records, imaging and a handover note written for them, and we stay reachable afterwards. Arranging care in your own country is not something we can do for you.
We name the hospital in your written plan before you commit to anything. We are not naming partner hospitals for this pathway on the website yet — we would rather say nothing than name an institution we have not finished contracting with.

Nothing on this page is medical advice, and none of it is a diagnosis. China Medical Journey coordinates care; the treating clinician decides what is appropriate.

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