UK referrals

Hi everyone

My GP has referred me to gastroenterology for suspected CD. I was wondering how long other people's referrals have taken from heir GP referring to their first GI appointment?

I was referred on the 5th May and have received a date for my first outpatient appointment... 28th September?!

I have also been referred from university, but by September I will have moved back home and then in October I move to a new county so having my care under the hospital I have been referred to isn't convenient really! I certainly didn't expect to have to wait 5 months before being able to see a specialist?

What are other people's experiences?

My son (age 14 at the time) was referred in March 2013. After a couple of months I contacted the hospital he'd been referred to and was told he wouldn't get an appointment until September. I couldn't watch him getting sicker and sicker so in the end I got him seen privately - scopes were done, he got his diagnosis and then he was referred back to the NHS.

Waiting times vary in different areas and for different hospitals, so it might be worth asking for a referral after you've moved. I don't think a few months is uncommon though. I've had hundreds of referrals (and I may mean that literally soon!) for appointments, tests, surgeries and other treatments in all sorts of medical specialities in different areas of England, and including both local and tertiary referrals. All I know is that waiting times vary a lot and that there doesn't seem to be much logic about it. Routine referrals can be anywhere from a couple of weeks to a few months. Urgent can be from a couple of days to several weeks. The quickest way is emergency, but obviously that's not something you're qualified for, though if you are admitted to hospital, tests, treatments and meetings with consultants happen pretty much immediately.

I would not recommend going private unless you are super-rich. If you have a consultation privately (which is fairly affordable) you will still need tests - and it may well be several tests - which would cost a fortune. So you'd have your initial appointment quickly but if you can't afford tests privately then you'd just be put back on long NHS waiting lists for tests, and it's unlikely that you'll be able to get treatment before tests are done. There's also the possibility that tests don't show anything, which you may not be pleased to hear if you've paid for them.

So you really do just have to wait, or try again once you've moved. But if your health deteriorates you can ask your GP if it warrants an earlier appointment. You could also ask your GP to help treat your symptoms in the mean time. They won't be able to treat you for Crohn's but they can prescribe painkillers, anti-diarrhoea medication, anti-nausea medication or whatever else might help your symptoms.

I would get in contact with your GP to let them know the date you've been given. Depending on your symptoms they may be able to put you in a higher category of urgency. Or if your symptoms worsen while you are waiting, make sure you let the doctor know so they can press for a more urgent appointment then.

I believe that here in the UK if you are being referred to see a specialist, you have the right to ask to see one anywhere in the country. This may give you the chance to see someone nearer to your home or even the county you will be moving to, either of which might have a shorter waiting list. It would mean travelling further in the short term, but would enable continuity of care later on.

There is a useful website 'NHS Choices' - go to the page titled 'Your choices in the NHS' which tells you all about it. (Sorry, I don't know how to post links).

Hopefully your GP may be able to help you to look into it further.

http://www.nhs.uk/choiceintheNHS/Yourchoices/hospitalchoice/Pages/Choosingahospital.aspx


Hope this works...!

Thank you for your replies. I will contact my GP and discuss this with them.

Thank you nitty, your link worked and I was unaware you could ask to be referred to any hospital you like! I think I will ask for my care to be referred to the hospital in the county I will be moving to, I probably wouldn't receive an appointment till I'm there anyway!

If I were to attend my outpatients appointment here and they decide to do further investigations but I ask for my care to be transferred, would I have to be added to a waiting list at the other hospital to see a consultant again before the investigations can be done?

If I were to attend my outpatients appointment here and they decide to do further investigations but I ask for my care to be transferred, would I have to be added to a waiting list at the other hospital to see a consultant again before the investigations can be done?

Click to expand...

I can't say for certain but my experience has always been that yes, you see a consultant if you move to a different hospital before tests are done. My experiences have been in different circumstances: on a few occasions I've been seeing one consultant, then they decided I needed a more specialised consultant and send me on. The more specialised consultant then sees me before doing his/her own tests, they even repeat the tests I've had done at other hospitals, because they like to do their own. And different consultants may have different opinions on which tests you need.

Good old NHS.

FWIW I got to see a consultant after a week, but that was because it was a cancer referral. So they can act fast if they need to.