How we write, review, and correct

All editorial content on HospitalWaits — every analysis, article, methodology page, and Right to Choose explainer — is written or co-authored by Dr Mustafa Ghafouri MD, an NHS doctor and 10-year data scientist, founder of Doctor Data Ltd, and NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Fellow.

From Q3 2026 we may also commission articles from other clinicians or specialist writers. Every commissioned article will:

• Carry the writer's name + credentials in the byline.
• Be reviewed and approved by Mustafa before publication.
• State their relationship to Doctor Data Ltd, if any.

Our editorial scope is strictly:

• NHS waiting-time data analysis (the Referral-to-Treatment statistics we ingest monthly).
• NHS Right to Choose policy and how to use it.
• Comparison of NHS pathways with private healthcare options, presented honestly with the trade-offs visible.
• Practical patient-information topics (e.g., what private surgery actually costs, what to ask a private hospital).

We do not write about:

• Medical conditions, diagnoses, or treatment advice.
• Individual clinicians' personal performance.
• Topics outside the NHS waiting-list / Right to Choose / private alternatives space.

Every NHS statistic on this site links to its NHS source URL. If you read a number on HospitalWaits, you can click through and verify it on NHS England's own RTT page, NHS Organisation Data Service, or whichever specific government dataset produced it.

Where we cite external work (academic papers, news reporting, policy documents), the citation is in-line and links to the original.

For every article that goes live:

1. Draft. Mustafa drafts (or commissions and edits) the article.
2. Self-check. Mustafa reads the article aloud and verifies every NHS statistic against its source URL.
3. Citation audit. Every external claim has a hyperlink to the underlying source.
4. Plain-English check. Mustafa rewrites anything that reads as jargon. Articles target a non-clinical, non-academic reader.
5. Disclosure check. Any commercial relationship relevant to the article is disclosed at the top.
6. Publish. Article goes live with byline + publication date + last-reviewed date.

We will get things wrong. When we do:

• We fix the article promptly.
• We update the "Last reviewed" date.
• For substantive factual corrections (changes affecting a claim, statistic, or recommendation), we add a visible Correction note at the top of the article with the date and what was changed.
• For typo fixes, we just fix them; no note needed.

Spot something wrong? Email me directly: mustafa@doctor-data.co.uk. Specific, polite corrections get prompt action.

Mustafa Ghafouri is a working NHS doctor, Director of Doctor Data Ltd (this site's parent company), and Head of Data Science at Pharmacy2U. None of those relationships influence the editorial position of this site.

From late 2026, Doctor Data Ltd will accept sponsored placements from private hospital groups and PMI insurers per our sponsorship policy. Sponsored content is loudly disclosed and never modifies editorial.

HospitalWaits is independent. We are not affiliated with NHS England, NHS Digital, any individual NHS trust, or any government body. We use NHS open data under the Open Government Licence v3.0.