NHS hospital appointments

[Purplelemon7]

Roughly how far in advance do you get notified that you have an appointment? Is it weeks or months in advance? I assume the only time you would get notified days in advance if it’s something very urgent?

Absolutely varies depending on the clinic and the reason.

Could be anywhere from 6 months to the day before.

There's no rhyme or reason at the moment, dh had a day's notice and before 8 weeks.

As pp totally depends.

As a family of 3 we've had ones from a week to two months notice.

Like everything in the NHS, there's no standardisation. Between my OH and myself, we've more than our fair share of appointments in the last few years. Even within the same hospital, it varies enormously. In fact, even the same department varies enormously - we've had an appointment letter for a week ahead of the appointment from exactly the same dept/consultant as an appointment letter a month ahead (neither of which were urgent). There's also no consistency about how they notify you these days, sometimes it's a letter, sometimes a phone call, sometimes a text, and sometimes they follow up with a postal letter after a phone call or text, sometimes they don't. It really is down to the individual dept, and the individual admin staff.

yeah sorry as pp said there's no one answer to this. Different clinics will have their own systems. We used to have regular monitoring visits for a family member and they'd send a letter through basically saying hi there we'd like to see you again now call and make an appointment and then you'd get offered a few different dates/times on the phone and could choose what worked for you work and transport wise, so you might be offered a slot at the next clinic but wouldn't be obliged to take it if that wasn't enough notice for work iyswim. I thought that was a good system but clearly it isn't what everywhere does and it wouldn't work everywhere.

Dh already has appointments for October(referral) and February(routine annual) next year. Others have been within a few days to a few months of a letter.

It massively varies. I’ve had appointments months later and also had a call in the morning asking me if I can come in in an hour as they’ve had a cancellation and do I want the slot.

On average, it’s varied from 2 weeks to 2 months.

What are you worried about?

With my dc recently, I had two appointments within a fortnight of a gp referral which I thought was very quick.

Depends what it is for. Some appointments are time critical eg fracture clinic.

Depends. Because of staff sickness some clinics of ours are being overloaded with routine four monthly reviews being brought forward with a days notice whereas some for one week (time critical) reviews are being cancelled. It’s extremely frustrating

It really varies. Although for a routine clinic appointment I think 1 month would be average.

Sometimes we'll only work out the staffing (for a weekend, say) a day or 2 before, and then we'll ring round to fill up the appointments. They're not necessarily urgent (though of course some will be) but we're just trying to get through the waiting list.

Should have said of course others will be several weeks in advance.

I've been waiting since Sept for an initial consultant's appointment. Had a telephone call last Friday to go in tomorrow.

I had an appointment come through for an investigative test one day before the other week. It wasn’t urgent.

Can be short notice if there’s a cancellation.

We had one day’s notice for fracture clinic recently.

Anything from 1 day to months. The 1 day one wasn't urgent, I was on a watch and wait and they just had space. Honestly can be completely random. Even scan bookings.

Depends on the clinic, specialty, if they have a cancellation, urgency, what the issue is.

I got an appointment letter for a consultation yesterday for 6weeks time
But for more urgent stuff I've had them within a week.
I'm a long term patient in the department (I've been an out patient there for 25yrs) which can make some things quicker as I'm already in the system (not always the case)

I assume the only time you would get notified days in advance if it’s something very urgent?
Not really - some clinics will text you if they have a cancellation.

I assume the only time you would get notified days in advance if it’s something very urgent?

Not really. Sometimes they put on additional sessions at short notice, or they may have cancellation slots to fill.

The last 3 appointments I have had , have all had 2-3 days notice. Good job I am on maternity leave and just drop everything to attend.

I had a letter arrive once the day after I should have had the appointment😕

It also depends on whether you are a new patient with the particular medical specialism (where the appointments tend to be 17 weeks away) or whether you are "continuing" patient, where often they are closer together.

In case this is the question you were actually asking - if you've not got date/time for an appointment (as in, you have the date for the appointment, not that you've had the actual appointment) within 2 weeks of being referred (I guess you could allow 3 if you're feeling generous) this is normally because you are now lost in a system blackhole or because you are simply waiting in the "pre-queue queue". In these cases it's useful to ring up to find out which it is.

I had to have an echocardiogram for which I had two weeks notice. The appointment was on a Sunday because the cardiology department is trying to catch up because of Covid. It was very eerie in the hospital because there was hardly anyone around. On the other hand I am currently on the waiting list to go on the waiting list to see a cardiologist so heaven knows when I will get that appointment - hopefully not too long but who knows!