To think possible melanoma should get an urgent GP appointment?

[NW3Lady]

Just been looking at the info below and thinking this surely justifies an urgent GP appointment? Yet I queried it with the receptionist and apparently it just gets the next routine appointment which is nearly three weeks away.

I got a same day appointment with the practice nurse, and a dermatology appointment for 10 days later.

register a complaint/concern with practice manager

I got an appointment with the specific skin lesion clinic run by the gp but had to wait for a week to be able to book in (they sent me the link in about 10 mins of the econsult though). Dermatology referral about a week and a half after that and it’s being removed some point in the next 10 days. So about a month from first contact to what I very much hope is going to be the last one.

I have been told to expect about a month to get the pathology results from what they remove though.

Would it perhaps depend on what you told them? If you’re concerned about an existing mole they might be a bit slower than a new, fast growing lesion for instance. I called about some moles I wanted being looked at and my receptionist also told me to wait a couple of weeks.

I suppose it depends on the actual symptoms described; maybe they don’t suspect melanoma based on the information given?

Is there a phone triage service where you can send a photo? You could also point out that you’re worried it’s cancer and that you’d like to be seen as soon as possible. A dr should make that call at the very least, not a receptionist.

Hmmmm I’ve just been given a non urgent appointment in two weeks for a melanoma that has grown back. When I told them I needed a different time they said I’d have to re submit the online request for the following 2 week batch after that!Our GP has deteriorated massively since they went to online booking. It’s far easier getting appointments at the hospital!My husband had a clear lump on his eye and got the same. Very much “ the computer says no”. GPs seems to want to do as little as possible these days .

First few days of sun in the year and we get about 6 calls a day looking ‘moles checked’ - they cant all go in emergency slots.

So really it depends on what you said:

i want an appt for a mole check
or
im concerned about a new mole that looks unusual/bleed/changed colour and my mum had melanoma.

Well the melanoma I had removed before and came back as cancerous was treated very urgently by dermatology previously. I had actually gone in about something else. It’s so patronising to just dismiss patient concerns with “ first few days of sun..”

Well that’s an ‘AI overview’- taking bits of information from various websites and putting it all together to create a summary. What does the NHS website actually say because surely that’s the advice GPs will be following.

NHS website also says specialist referral within two weeks.

I did say I was concerned about a possible melanoma but was still told that didn’t justify an urgent appointment.

It’s probably nothing but I’ll see if I can get an appointment privately tomorrow as my anxiety is very high.

If you feel like it needs looking at sooner some bigger Boots have mole check appointments that you can book. The wait can be a while though depending on how flexible you can be about times so you might not actually get seen that much quicker unfortunately. I hope you’re ok, it can be really scary worrying about something like that.

Thank you. That’s very helpful as I did not know this.

Would you say the same about other potentially serious things though?

E.g. ‘We get multiple calls at the peak of winter from people who are worried their babies may have pneumonia. They can’t all have urgent appointments.’

I never actually saw my GP face to face, had to mess about taking a photo of it and sending it to them. They texted me tO say to try antibiotics for a week (christ knows why), then messed about trying to get another appointment to tell them the antibiotics didn't work (surprise surprise), took 3 weeks for them to actually refer me. Considering I have a long family history of cancer, particularly melenoma, they didn't seem to bothered.

Except we dont.
We get multiple calls in winter about ‘the cold’ similar to ‘a mole’
And no they can’t all have emergency slots either.

However similar to if you say ‘I have a hx of melanoma and this is a new/changed mole’ like above. If you said ‘I’ve got a temp/chesty cold and have COPD’ that’s very different (and much more likely to be pneumonia) than a cold.

Babies under 1 are very different and pretty much always get seen that day. usually in someone’s lunch time. A mole ain’t going in the lunch time. It won’t kill someone that day - true pneumonia in a baby will.

I would want a melanoma assessed urgently.

However, if there are no appointments, there are no appointments. They literally don’t have the doctors or staff to conduct the clinics. It’s not right but it’s how things are in many places.

I still don’t think that’s good enough.
Most surgeries now have phone triage and you can send a photo - at the very least a photo should be assessed on the day and no later than the day after.

Not every patient has the education and nouse to carefully word their mole history to a receptionist (this is something that really pisses me off and leaves many in a very vulnerable position). Anything with the obvious potential to be cancerous - changed moles, breast lumps etc should be treated as urgent. The NHS used to be able to do this.

Dont be so silly a baby with pneumonia is potentially deadly and likely needs hospital admission asap.

A mole that you've said yourself is probably nothing is hardly a big deal and a few weeks of a wait isnt going to change that whereas a baby who is having difficulty breathing may not have a few weeks.

It depends. If you are 65 with history of melanoma then YES. if you are 20 with a slightly assymetric mole then NO. Like many patients problems, there's a grey area inbetween and a shortfall of appts so everyone has to wait.

If you are that concerned can you pay for a private appointment so you can be seen earlier? But honestly I would just wait, if you have no symptoms and it’s just a mole a couple of weeks won’t make much difference. As an aside I would recommend having a yearly mole mopping session done. I live in Australia and go every year as skin cancer rates are so high here. I pay about $200 so roughly £100 and it is well worth it for peace of mind.