Can anyone working in Radiology tell me the waiting times in your LA?

[MrsNoelFielding]

Not AIBU but posting here for traffic. Have changed a few details slightly and my username as quite outing.

Also anyone else waiting for an appointment have you had a date through yet?

We took teen DS to the GP two weeks ago as he has a lump in his neck, rather than reassuring us the GP instead told us he wanted to send DS for an ultrasound.

We had an appointment through yesterday and I was quite shocked to be told that the 21st March was the earliest date they had. I was told that this date was pretty good compared to others and that even cancer patients are having a longer wait.

I was told that there were no plans on contacting if there were cancellations.

DS has had lots going on over the past 18 months (not related to this) and is so anxious about this, our original trip to the GP to reassure him that it’s probably just a swollen lymph node has had the opposite effect and now the waiting time is longer than ever. He’s now got weeks of anxious waiting.

I’m reassuring him that it’s probably just the GP being extra cautious while underneath of course I’m worried too, although he’s not aware of my concerns.

Radiology told me the only thing I cold do was to go back to GP to stress how anxious this is making DS, he now says he can feel it when he swallows, although that could be because he’s super aware of it now.

Anyone else going through an anxious wait to?

Yes. My husband has been ill since November. His bloods and symptoms indicate cancer. The Dr referred him as urgent in December. Its now mid February and we still have no appointment. He rang to chase it up, there's a long waiting list with no cancellations. They had no date to roughly give, maybe April if he's lucky. Meanwhile the stress and worry is horrendous and he is getting worse every week.
We are preparing wills, including a living will and POA in case the worse happens before he is seen.

@FlamingGoat I’m so sorry you’re going through this anxious wait. Can you go back to your GP to chase this, I can’t believe how long you’ve had to wait with no appointment through yet.

I have just left our Radiology department...a paediatric msk ultrasound in our trust wait really depends on what the Radiologists have classes it as. A fast track would aim to be done in 2 weeks but In reality could be 4 depending on staffing, an urgent referral 6-8 weeks and a routine could be anything upwards of 8 months

We chased it up yesterday and their response was no cancellation, long list, no appointment yet, covid, pandemic blah blah blah.
I do understand how stretched the NHS is but cancer patients and children like your son really should be priority.
I wish I could go private for DH . I need to start doing the lottery again!

I work for admin within the NHS. Our times are currently the worst I've seen them. I didn't think yours was too bad when I saw the date, compared with some I've seen. I appreciate it feels different as the patient and parents. You could try calling your go surgery and request the secretary to send an expedite request due to his anxiety.

Routine appointments are currently being booked for referrals from last August.

OP - Also for lumps in neck it might require a head and neck radiologist to look at him and so the slots available will depend on that rota. Our cancer pathway ultrasound slots are taking between 2-4 weeks at the moment unless there is a cancellation. Waiting times are awful.

My 2 week appointment was down graded by someone in the radiology department without me being told. I waited about 4 weeks.

Is there a private hospital near?
You could at least phone them to enquire.

I work in radiology. I am newly qualified but i think if the radiologist was at all suspicious he would put it on a " hot report" or urgent referral. For example if we suspected cancer it would be chased up quick.
I have seen radiologists scan these neck lumps and they mostly are swollen lymph nodes but they do like to double check. I do know the sonographer writes a report straight after the scan so if it was looking bad i reckon they would speed up.
Sorry your son us anxious...it is horrid waiting.

@FlamingGoat when you call our local hospital it gives you option 1 for NHS or option 2 for private - automatically makes me feel deflated, if only I could afford to press option 2, although we might have to look into costs if it gets delayed for any reason.

I really hope you get that appointment through soon.

Sorry...just saw he has not had the US yet....can u go private?

Thanks for all of your replies btw.

I’m just heading out so will come back to the thread later.

Just be reassured thay once the scan has taken place it will generally be reported on immediately and chased up quick if suspicious.

Well that’s a 5 week wait so not too bad for non-urgent. I know it’s stressful but try not to worry. I scan necks and the vast vast majority of lumps in necks like this, especially in kids, are swollen lymph nodes.

@FlamingGoat

Yes. My husband has been ill since November. His bloods and symptoms indicate cancer. The Dr referred him as urgent in December. Its now mid February and we still have no appointment. He rang to chase it up, there's a long waiting list with no cancellations. They had no date to roughly give, maybe April if he's lucky. Meanwhile the stress and worry is horrendous and he is getting worse every week. We are preparing wills, including a living will and POA in case the worse happens before he is seen.

Was he referred under a two week wait ? Can you try PALS ?

4 weeks wait is a good time for non urgent. Its within the 6 weeks target so actually very good.

There is a national shortage of sonographers, so 4 weeks is good. Any concern that it could be a tumour would have put your son in the 2 weeks wait.

I work in radiology. Officially 6-8 weeks for non urgent. Realistically about 10-12 weeks. URC (urgent cancer referals) pathways will be seen within 2 weeks. The catch up on the backlog will take years to get through.

Your sons ultrasound will be a specialist MSK (musculoskeletal) neck and most general sonographers or radiologists are not trained in MSK unfortunately so the wait time is always longer. 21st of March is actually really quick to get your appointment in this case. We have over 12000 requests on our system currently. Some date back as far as Feb 2021. A lot of them will be much more urgent than others. Many of them won't even need doing and should be referred back to the Gp but it's a mammoth task.

It's highly likely the lump is a lipoma (fatty tissue) or swollen lymph node. These are both harmless and much more common than people realise.

Thanks so much for the reassuring posts and that if the GP suspected cancer it would be within the two week pathway.

Really are hopefully that it is just a swollen lymph node or fatty tissue.

Think it’s always the waiting that is the worst bit, the not knowing.

I’ve had to have a scan for a lump and colonoscopy for bowel issues in the past and was seen with two weeks, that why I assumed that DS would be seen quite quickly.

Hope everyone else waiting has their appointments through soon.

Had a telephone consultation with the GP who referred DS, this afternoon.

He said that he had marked the scan as urgent but that the 21st March seemed like a reasonable wait! He also suggested that he suspected it’s possibly a brachial (sp) cyst but obviously doesn’t know for definite and that they have been taken by surprise before!

So, the waiting game with an anxious DS (and parents) begins.

21st of March seems a good wait to me…. Really not that far off at all. Good luck!

Thank you.

Trying to keep preoccupied in the meantime.

The problem we have is DS believing that all should be good, just a scan to make sure.

Without going into too much detail, over the past 12 months DS has been incredibly unlucky with a couple of injuries, that on the surface seemed ok, but one resulted in surgery and the other resulted in walking with crutches for weeks.

When we tell him ‘it’ll be fine” now, he of course doesn’t quite believe us. Even the GP was of the opinion of how incredibly unlucky he’s been!

I obviously want to reassure him and I’m hoping to fuck all is ok.