I was in hospital in June with an infected gallbladder and jaundice. I was told upon discharge that I would have an appointment in six weeks with the surgeon.
Six weeks passed and I heard nothing so I rang the hospital appointment line and was told that they could see the appointment request had been made but at the time the request was made there were no available appointments.
She looked there and then and found me an appointment for September and booked me in.
I don't mind the 6 week wait turning into 3 months - I know a lot of people wait much longer but I'm confused about how it all works.
It sounds to me like they looked for an appointment for me when they got the request through, couldn't find one, and then I was just left in limbo. At what point would they have gotten back around to me?
I got the September appointment because I rang them. I can only assume that it follows that I ended up "jumping ahead" of people who "should" have been seen before me. And I can only assume that others who "shouldn't" have been seen before me were lucky enough that their requests were received on a day where appointments were available. I ended up wishing I had rang sooner!
The reason I ask all of this is that I saw the surgeon just over a week ago and he told me that because of the jaundice and infection he was putting me on the urgent list for surgery and I could expect it in a matter of weeks and that I would get a letter about my pre op.
Now that I am a bit sceptical of how much of the booking system is actually a queue and how much of it is luck of what is available on the day your request is received, I am tempted to be "cheeky" and ring up in a week or two and ask to check the status so that they'll have another look there and then for me. Would this be weird? I am worried about being demanding and pushy but selfishly I also want it done asap.