Aibu or is this a long winded approach to getting an x ray

[Oliversmumsarmy]

Visited the Drs on Friday. Apparently my knees need to be x rayed.

Fully expected a note to take to the x ray department of the local hospital from the Dr to say Oliversmumsarmy needs her knees x rayed.

No apparently the Dr writes to the hospital who allocates me an appointment time several weeks in advance and then the hospital writes to me to tell me when the appointment is.

There are a few issues I have.

1. If I just turned up for an xray I might be in a queue but I could get it over and done with and be several weeks closer to finding out what was wrong and be receiving treatment and maybe able to get back to work. Or I could just call for an appointment

1. If the NHS are in such a bad way financially why are they wasting money with all this letter writing.

1. Invariably with the local hospital it could take several months to get an appointment because although they might offer you an appointment on 15th May. The letter won't go down for typing till 1st June and will not be received by the recipient until sometime in July.

Which also wastes more of the precious funds the NHS are apparently short of.

If they can do this for blood tests why can't they do this for x rays

You can't just show up at a hospital and ask for an X-ray if it's just routine. That is standard for GP to refer for X-ray for the given reasons and you wait for an appointment like everyone else.

It presumably allows them to plan for non urgent appointments rather than staff a whole unit on the off chance that the walk ins will all appear in a nice orderly sequence throughout the day.

Less waste and the letters are mass generated by staff far cheaper than radiologists.

It also gives them time to decide whether an x ray referral is clinically appropriate. So a referral for a lumbar x ray in a youngish woman for back pain is probably not going to show anything, and an MRI will be more appropriate. Which is hard to explain to a patient who has come down for an xray as they have to get a radiologists opinion etc etc.

And also to plan workload.

However in my area, you don't even have a letter - the GP does a booking electronically and then you can turn up to one of three community hospitals or the main one at your leisure. And then have a discussion about your x ray

I agree with you.

I work in an Imaging department and we have open access for all GP xray referrals. Patients also have the option to make an appointment. Your system appears very convoluted.

Are you sure it’s not for a scan? (MRI/CT/Ultrasound)

You can't just show up at a hospital and ask for an X-ray if it's just routine.

Actually, I did just that at my local hospital. I saw my GP who referred me for an X-ray and I was able to drop in at my convenience and wait but it turned out there was no wait and I was able to go straight in.

I saw my GP, he gave me an x ray form, I had a choice of one hospital I could phone up and book an appointment, or another hospital I could turn up and wait. I chose to turn up and wait, took around 90 minutes from presenting myself at reception to walking out the front door.

Saved weeks of time and two lots of postage (and admin time processing two letters).

I agree, and where I live it does work like that, GP gives me a form with barcode (as images will be uploaded in a way my GP and consultant can access) and I pop into an Xray centre or minor ailments. That means I can make a follow up appointment with the GP while I'm there to go over what it shows. I don't know if it because in my city the hospitals have moved from small central locations to bigger suburban locations and it made sense to keep some services drop in-able where most of the population live.

In my hospital (liverpool) you self book, sometimes they have appointments that afternoon.

That is because they keep slots for emergency's but then give them away when quiet.

"Are you sure it’s not for a scan? (MRI/CT/Ultrasound)"

Its fairly the same system for them, because we have a few sites that do them and they want the slots filled.

YNBU. DM had a chest infection at the beginning of the year, started on antibiotics and the x ray was two weeks later. I said to DM if there was something there, her chest would be clear by then as the abs would have kicked in, lo and behold it came back clear.

for your knee. I struggle too.

Round here you can turn up and wait - went to gp, got a referral letter
to take with me and details of opening hours. Went at 6pm Friday after work and was seen within 10 minutes of arrival.

It seems like everyone has different systems.

I wasn't going to turn up and just demand an x ray I thought I would be getting a letter or some form of note from the dr to take with me.

In our hospital the x ray dept are available 24/7. Who knows who is going to turn up to A&E with a broken toe/ leg/ arm etc.

The issue with the generated letters are they don't type them up till after the appointment has been (it states at the top of the letter when the letter was dictated, typed sent for posting. It is the biggest waste of time) no wonder they have thousands of missed appointments

When I've needed X-rays my GP has printed me out a form and I just pop down to our local hospital when it suits me. Easy Peary.

It does seem very long winded. Our gp refers you electronically and gives you a list of each hospital with opening times and you just turn up when it suits you. Good luck I too suffer with arthritic knees.

Hopefully mine are not arthritic. It is something to do with my knee caps patella something unpronounceable.

It is just I know once they get told they have to send a letter it is going to be months before they tell you and even then you will have missed the appointment by the time they have sent the letter out so you end up ringing to book an appointment.

It doesn't matter how cheap it is to pay someone to organise appointments if they can't tell you in time to come to an appointment they are a waste of time and money

I feel your pain, my 4 year old has been waiting for an x ray for 2 weeks so far. The gp marked the referral as urgent so I naively thought it would be quick.

Where I am (London) I just had to cross the road from the Drs to the hospital, sit and wait, and get my arm x-rayed. Didn't even take long, though they said I was lucky it was a slow day.

No letter writing or anything involved. Just took a slip of paper from the surgery.

I wish it was like that here @welcomehome. Our gp wrote to the paediatrician and then the paediatrician went on holiday so ds's referral is taking ages. It could have been done by now if the gp had phoned/emailed the paediatrician or done the x ray referral herself.

A lot of you are to have a more sensible system I just wish it was like that round here.

Surely if a section of the country can just get the x ray by turning up and waiting why can't every other health authority use what looks like a much simpler system.

I doubt it is an MRI as if you want one around here you have yo pay for it yourself. I am lucky they are sending me for an x ray

Last time I needed an MRI I waited over 5 years and they spent thousands on consultants and physios trying to diagnose my constant pain . The consultant who was instructing the physio never actually looked at me
I was on a zimmer frame trying to look after a baby and a toddler and unable to work

Only when I went private did they admit that I did need an Mri but it cost too much and they hadn't a clue what was wrong with me.

Went private and saw an osteopath who diagnosed slipped discs within seconds of actually looking at me. Told me I needed an MRI to confirm.