. . . to think this letter from the NHS is depressing, upsetting, frustrating . . .

[RedPandaFluff]

Had a routine eye test at a high street optician and the retina scan (which I paid extra for on a "why not?" basis) showed that the layers of my macula are separating, with what could be fluid - possible macular oedema. The optician gave me a letter for my GP asking for an urgent referral to the eye hospital as this needs investigating. The GP made the referral, and I got this letter (pic) back. It's been a month and still nothing - the optician said she would really want me to be seen within a couple of weeks.

It just makes me incredibly sad and depressed. This is an urgent referral, but it isn't life-threatening (assuming it's just fluid) but it frightens me to think of all the people that aren't receiving treatment for what could be serious issues, made worse by urgent referrals no longer being treated as such, and we're still blaming covid.

I feel a bit overwhelmed by how bad things have become.

@RedPandaFluff I would be pushier, but I would go through your gp or optician, and I would say your optician. Your optician may in the circumstances say you need to go to your nearest a and e eye department. They will write a letter for you to take. They may also be able to keep an eye on situation till you are seen.

It's diabolical and unacceptable.

My 5 year old son has been on a dietician waiting list for 18 months.

He is autistic and has an extremely poor diet, which has started to deteriorate more than I ever imagined. He relies heavily on milk and can't tolerate vitamins supplements in any form.

I have phoned and phoned and always get the same response, he's on the list.

I cried last time and said he lives off breadsticks and toast, and she couldn't have cared less and said we just have to wait.

I would go private in a heartbeat if I had the money.

My step father was due to have a cataract operation about 18 months ago. When he saw the Dr for the pre-op check he was told the bar had been raised from 50% to 70% and he had to go back on the waiting list. Step asked if it could be done privately more quickly and was told "yes, no problem - can do it Friday". Same hospital, same consultant, same theatre. I exhorted him to write to his mp. He wouldn't.

He had them done on Friday. He has less than 10% vision now. It should correct in a few days but evidently is because the procedure was more intense due to the worsening of the cataract.

It is an absolute disgrace. We locked down for this lot.

I’m in a similar boat wth another serious health issue.

I was told by my GP that I needed an urgent referral to a specialist in August last year.

I was sent an appointment letter in the beginning of April and about a week later it was cancelled.

When I called up to ask what was going on. was told ‘Covid’.

I will probably get slated for saying
this but I daresay the death toll caused by missing/late appointments excused by covid will likely to be hgher than the covid death toll because it’ll be years before the NHS catches up

This happened to me. I emailed my MP and she actually contacted the chief executive of the hospital. I got my appointment.

The easiest way around this stupid letter and stupid clinic treatment IMVHO is to hop on a RyanAir flight and pay £30 to see a German GP and £200 to have a local specialist run all the tests you need whilst having a short holiday. If there’s anything really wrong you’ll then have a letter to take home that will move the process on fast.

That's all well and good if you have the money to hop on a plane to see a GP.

Thank you for the advice given - I'm going to go back to the optician and ask for her steer re. the chance of them not prioritising correctly etc.

I could go private, but there's a part of me that's really worried that I'll use savings for this that I might need, for example, if something more serious/urgent happens to DH or DD and we need money for treatment.

The NHS has become absolutely dire. I have seen things in the last 18 months that have just shocked me. Their practices and protocols are ridiculous. They have a view that everything us tougher in the NHS than it is in any other service and have put in place 'protection' of their staff that leaves patients at risk of worsening conditions, much longer waiting lists, awful communication and a sense that the NHS has distanced itself from patients and we just have to accept that. Services do not seem to communicate with each other and no one takes responsibility for seeing things through.

I am sure the government is rubbing its hands together at the mess the NHS is in and how sick people are of it- there is no doubt it will be in private hands within 3 years.

If you can possibly afford to and live near an eye hospital, I would pay for a private consultation. You will be seen in the next week probably.

A private consultation will not be incredibly expensive and may tip you into an NHS treatment faster.

Which part of the country do you live in?

You’re not wrong Strawberries, people shouldn’t have to do it but when it comes to health it’s at least an option that is out there (and probably cheaper than going private in the U.K. since the venture capitalists and Yanks muscled in on the health sector and got greedy).

Yes, I think you are absolutely entitled to be pushy given the specific advice you were given about the urgency of this. It may be that your referral has slipped through somehow and got lost,

Alternatively, do you have an eye A&E in any local hospital? Our local hospital has an eye department that runs its own A&E and when my doctor referred me there for shingles in my eye they saw me the same day.

I have just been referred for a breast lump on two week wait. That was 9 days ago and the Nurse Practitioner said I should expect a phone call. Yesterday I got a letter telling me I should have booked an appointment, I went online and went through a long rigmarole involving reciting numbers on a video and photographing my driving licence. After all that the first appointment it offered was in November, despite it saying on the system that it was an urgent appointment. I will try phoning tomorrow and if I can’t get an appointment I will have to escalate it at the GP’s surgery.

I am hoping that it isn’t serious, but I honestly believe there will be deaths if this carries on. I can pay to go private to some extent if necessary, but what happens if you really can’t afford to, this is not fair or acceptable.

@strrawberriesandcream I couldn't not respond. Sorry OP, I don't mean to derail the thread.

Have you heard of ARFID? Dr Gillian Harris is the specialist in this area.

My little boy is two and we struggle with this too. If it is any comfort, the NHS doctors we have seen with regards to this have been worse than useless. Dr Harris' book has been the best thing for us to understand the condition and support our son.

Back in topic, I utterly despair at the current state of the NHS. My son, in his first two years of life has been massively letdown.

Good luck OP.

Thank you so much I will look into this.

I literally don't know what else to do.

Private just isn't an option for us.

I'm at the mercy of the NHS and 18 months down the line we are no further to getting any help and support.

I get anything good in him that I can and fortunately the milk helps him to gain weight and build him up. But I worry so much about the long term implications of such a restricted diet

It's rubbish OP. And the November appointment might well be postponed.

In your situation, I would go private. You'll be seen very soon and will hopefully find out what treatment you need and how urgent it is.

I bet you would do this if it was your DC who was the patient waiting till November for an appointment.

Wishing you lots of luck.

I'm waiting on an urgent neurology referral from September, still not even had the generic "cheers, your on the very long list" letter. I'll be dead before I'm seen no doubt.

My mum had the same thing. She’s been waiting for her urgent referral for over a year now. She’s terrified that by the time she’s seen it will be too late and she’ll go blind.

I saw my GP on 31st March about a lesion on my back. I had two BCC removed last summer having been put on the two week pathway then.

The blasted thing had grown, changed shape and is very very itchy. I chased the referral and found out the GP didn't bother to make it until 14th April. I have an apt on 17th May for 10 minutes to review the lesion which clearly states nontreatment will be given at that appointment. The earliest I could get privately was 16th May. Shame the GP didn't advise about the shambles on 31st March and I'd have gone private straight away.

Last year I had an apt within 2 weeks, saw the consultant and she whipped them of with cryotherapy there and then.

The irritating thing is that not only donthey appear not to be getting things done but they appear to making themselves extra work.

Sorry, I muddled a different pp's situation with yours OP, but you get my gist.

A family member needed a fairy urgent cataract operation. She's only 50, with children at home and working and the waiting list was 2 years. In that time she wouldn't even be able to drive and they live rurally.
She ended up taking out a loan she absolutely cannot afford to pay to go private. It's awful.

People keep voting for an underfunded NHS and yes it is depressing, upsetting, and frustrating.

In the last year I have also been refused a scan on my back and a neurology appointment as they weren’t accepting referrals from GP’s and I am still waiting for a neurology opinion by letter that my GP requested in December.

I am also still waiting the result of a liver scan and blood tests I had in September last year, I escalated that via PALS as they were ordered by a consultant. I got a phone call from his secretary last month saying they had found them in a tray and would be writing to me, but she thought they must be OK, still no results ☹️

If you can afford it I would look to investing in a Bupa or Beneden membership (a lot go places of work get it discounted). £12 a month I pay and they cover a wide range of treatments. My mum got her hysterectomy done via them, she was referred by her GP and it was done 12 weeks later