Can I have a little rant about my cancelled hospital appointment.

[Avocando]

I have just received a message telling me my appointment with the recurrent miscarriage clinic is cancelled tomorrow. I’ve been gearing myself up for it, it’s in the same place my losses happened/were diagnosed and it’s really been difficult for me to even step back into the clinic.

I’ve been waiting months for this appointment, after having to fight for a referral, and now it’s been cancelled. I don’t know how much longer it will be before I get a new one.

I can’t even ring the hospital appointment line to ask because the line closes at 4pm yet I didn’t get the text until 4.10.

I am just so gutted I could cry

I am sorry op :(
It's shit news
I hope you get a new one through quickly

I know the consultant is probably sick or something hence the last minute cancellation but it’s just so disappointing, I feel like I’m back to square one waiting

I’m sorry for your losses 😞

It’s a difficult time and I hope you don’t have to wait long for another appointment.

Oh, that is awful and I'm not surprising it's having that effect on you. It's totally understandable. A rant is totally justified.

It's a shame they couldn't have given you a date for the appointment within the same text. They must know when the next available slot could be, or have a policy for how to fit in appointments that they have cancelled rather than been cancelled by patients.

Hi OP. So sorry to hear this. I am sure they will re book you quickly when you call again. Could you afford a private appointment to then push things ahead NHS wise? I think of a private consultant recommendations a course of action or investigation then this can be put through the nhs and often done quicker than if you had waited for nhs appointments etc. I’m not 100% sure that would apply to what you’re going through but perhaps worth looking into? Hope you’re ok

I am so sorry, your rant is justified. I hope your new appointment comes through quickly and you are seen soon.

That's SO annoying and frustrating. I am so sorry @Avocando People messaging you when it's too late to ring back/making sure a letter gets to you on a Saturday morning etc is infuriating!

I hope you can get in touch tomorrow morning, and re-book the appointment.

You can call the secretary as soon as they open. It's awful when you have such anxiety and adrenaline to build up to something, then it doesn't happen. I hope you've got people to talk to not connected to that clinic?
Sadly cancellations do happen really frequently.

I'm so sorry OP. I can imagine how gutted you must be. Fingers crossed for you that you can be rebooked ASAP.

I believe such cancellation texts are automatically generated, and thus purely for information. Hopefully a human will get in touch with a new date tomorrow.
Anyone around irl to give you a hug?

My Aunt’s CT scan just got cancelled as well, to see if her cancer has spread.

That’s so shitty, I’m sorry.

I am so aware that compared to a lot of people I’m really lucky, it’s not a cancer appointment or something like that poor little girl in the news who had her spinal surgery cancelled repeatedly. But I do still feel so overlooked

That was my thinking but it just said “we will be in contact to rearrange”

I know I shouldn’t begrudge anyone an appointment but it did make me cross because it makes me wonder if I’ll be bumped further down the list behind people I was ahead of and who will have future allocated appointments in place?

I have this appointment for about 4 months after months and months before that of waiting

is it going to another four months time before they see me?

I think its the thing with the NHS. To them you are a number and that is all. The texts read cold and factual. Like they are a business. But it could so easily be transformed. So "sorry we've had to cancel your appointment, we know it was important to you. The booking team will be in touch in the next 2 days to reschedule". Much better.

Anyway it's shit OP but you won't be back at the bottom of the list if that helps at all (it doesn't I know
)

They will. People who are seen in the days between now and your next appointment will be moved on to next steps quicker if you both have identical situations.

I would really hope that people with cancelled appointments are top of the list after emergency appointments and that they will give you the next available appointment that comes up.

I'm sure it varies by clinic / hospital etc. But I had a series of cancellations for gynae related appointments (surgery cancelled twice on the day while I was in the hospital waiting, a clinic appointment cancelled about an hour beforehand while I was travelling). In all cases, they fitted me in for a new appointment pretty quickly rather than putting me to back of the line.

I'm sorry you've had losses - I hope the next appointment happens soon, is easily organised and helps you with your journey

This happened to me
Gynae appointment, 1 year wait. They cancelled 6hrs before the appointment (this was feb) and said I could rebook for Dec
I ended up ringing the secretary and sending a video of how much pain I'm in and I'm not due in next Tuesday

If it gets cancelled again, not sure what I will do

Exactly 😭😭 it’s so upsetting and I know it’s not fair of me but I just feel like I’ve done my waiting and now this is another hurdle

Them being treated won't make yours go slower though. They'll rebook you in. Let them know if you're available for cancellations on the day too

Sadly the "systems" of the NHS often come over as lacking any compassion. Of course, it's not hard to imagine a perfectly reasonable explanation but that's not the point when you're all geared-up emotionally and practically for an appointment... A vet wouldn't cancel like this but then: a) vets are generally not bound to the same extent by the "system"; and b) vets know that most people have a choice of provider

Well thanks for the lovely replies. I am still feeling very a sorry for myself but sure I’ll get over it. Will sting a bit tomorrow thinking “we should be getting some answers today” but hopefully they’ll be able to give me a new appointment quickly

For anyone interested,

I spoke to the booking team today and the consultant is having changes made to their rota effective from this week so appointments were being cancelled and rebooked. I wasn’t very happy because surely this is something agreed further in advance and I could have been notified of before now.

they said I should get a new appointment come through in 1-2 weeks but they can’t tell me how far in the future the appointment will be.

so… more waiting

Still no appointment but separate investigations which I’ve had have now confirmed PCOS and endometriosis with an ovarian endometrioma of 12cm.

it’s been 8ish years of pushing to investigate this and I feel so relieved in a way because I knew there was something going on but no one was taking it seriously.

At least I can go armed into my miscarriage clinic appointment (when I get it) with this information. It may not be great news but it is answers!

Aww thank for coming back to share your update. Glad to hear you feel some relief- it’s another step in your journey. Hope now you have diagnosis you can get treatment soon.
You should be proud of yourself for advocating for yourself in the medical world.