To be freaked by the use of “urgent”

[SmileEachDay]

Having some investigations after an anomaly was found in a routine mammogram. Follow up ultrasound and repeated mammogram were “inconclusive” and an attempt at a biopsy was unsuccessful because they couldn’t get a clear view of area.
Next step is an MRI and biopsy - when calling to make an appt the person booking appt said “I’ll do some shuffling around and call you back because the referral says it is urgent”

I was very much under the impression this was a belt and braces, better to be overly cautious thing.

Urgent sounds much more serious.

My recent experience is that anything that is possible indicator of cancer, you get put on the 2 week pathway and marked urgent. I was on there, it was “urgent” I was fine

It’s always urgent when you are on the two week pathway which you will be. Good to get the reassurance all is well sooner than keep worrying about it.

Same. I've had a couple of urgent referrals for moles (both benign, as apparently 90% of urgently referred moles are). Anything that might be cancer goes onto an urgent pathway; I suppose the idea is that if it is cancer it's important to catch it early. But that absolutely does not mean it is. Good luck.

Oh, I agree that it’s far better to be seen fast - my freak out is that no one up until now has said anything about urgency or a two week pathway? I don’t even know what that is 🤷🏻‍♀️

Urgent means 2 week pathway…..it’s cancer targets…..but it certainly doesn’t mean you have cacner…..my local one stop shop breast clinic see around 40 new patients a week….maybe 4 of them will get a cancer diagnosis….mri will better locate the area of concern…..they will be able to get a more accurate biopsy……when I had initial investigations I was told from the get go that it was highly suspicious of cancer before my biopsy …..so the fact you have been told it inconclusive…..is exactly that…..I know it will be a worrying time for you…..but these inconclusive tests are more to rule out , than rule in……I wish you well

Because if it wasn’t marked as urgent you’d be waiting months so they have to put anything that’s suspicious on the urgent list.

I had an urgent referral in May and wasn't seen until a few weeks ago.

I was silly enough to assume 'urgent' meant 'urgent' but not to the hospital waiting list it didn't.

I’m sorry, @SaffronsMadAboutMe - they’ve found an appt next week for me.

I hope you’re ok.

Please try not to become unduly stressed @SmileEachDay, I've been ontje urgent 2 week pathway many many times and it's always fine.

That's brilliant news and yes I'm ok thanks 👍

Hope you are too.

I’ve had this when on the two week cancer pathway. It turned out that everything was fine.

Hi Op, I had an urgent referral about 2 weeks ago and had my appointment today. I had a clinical examination, mammogram and ultrasound which took about an hour (god bless the NHS), all was fine. Try not to panic, it is good they are fast tracking you but as someone said on another thread about 9 in 10 women who get referred are not diagnosed with cancer.

Ok. So it sounds as though urgent is standard. That’s reassuring- thank you 🥰

Hope all goes well for you. Are you sure it's an MRI scan? I thought for breast lumps it was normally an ultrasound scan.

ETA I've been on the two week wait for breast lumps three times and all were benign.

@Scentsless I’ve had an US scan. That was one of the inconclusive ones. Next step is an MRI with contrast so they can see where to biopsy.

I had similar and they'd rung before I got home to give me an appt for MRI for 7am next morning - which panicked me obviously.

But it was just belt and braces, just look at it as an extension of the mammogram appt.

Good luck!

My Mums been on the pathway recently and they are super quick! It's great. Embrace how well you are being looked after.

If it's not urgent, you'll be waiting months if not years. Where I am it's standard practice now, all gynae & breast diagnostics get put through the 2ww urgent channel.

I had exact same re an ovarian cyst. Called to rearrange appointment and they said they’d need to refer as it was ‘urgent’. Freaked me out too. But next appt came out for 6 weeks later, hardly urgent! And it also now appears they knew by then it wasn’t likely to be sinister! It’s just a cyst I’m having removed this week.

A friend who has medical friends says ‘urgent’ can refer more to the admin side of it ie that the appt has to be within a certain timescale to meet targets.

But honestly, they need to consider their terminology when dealing with patients!

@HappyGirlNow
But honestly, they need to consider their terminology when dealing with patients!

This, I think? The casual “Oh, it says on the referral it’s urgent” sent me into a right tailspin, whereas I’d actually been pretty chilled at the way the breast care clinic had dealt with things.

Please don’t panic op. Being marked urgent doesn’t mean they know something they’re not telling you yet. It just means they want to give you an appt quickly to rule things out and not leave you hanging for more months on end. Sending good vibes!