To inform Gp of worsening condition

[notevencharging]

DM is on waiting list for surgery, and is several weeks past the “waiting list” time we were told.

Since going on the list the condition has worsened, to the point where I ended up taking her to A&E last week (the doctor who saw her was horrified that it hadn’t been sorted and said we needed to inform the hospital that it had got worse, and in his words “bug them, or they will leave you waiting”)

I couldn’t get through to the relevant team on the phone so sent a message to the GP repeating what the hospital doctor had said, and asked if they could update her condition. Got a snotty message back saying nothing they can do, we can’t just jump the queue.

Surely it should be possible to update someone’s condition, if it’s getting worse?

It's really really bad in the NHS now and I wonder how long until people realise we need to change it completely. A third of households are going private already.

Hassle hassle hassle. There's no such thing as a fair queue you need to advocate and don't feel embarrassed. The people treating you with disdain should be embarrassed.

Oh and make sure you send them the request in writing too so that if something goes horribly wrong there's no possibility they can say they didn't know.

You honestly need to make a complete nuisance of yourself, that’s how everyone is skipping queues. Or go private.

I’ve just had a jammed gallstone and told unless it’s infected it’s 18 months to wait, that’s 18 months on morphine and pain killers for a 15mm stuck stone, the surgeon said the only way I’d jump forward if it flares more than 4-5 times or gets infected. The irony of the fact they don’t operate on infected gall bladders.

So essentially they hope the issue just goes away. I went privately via my husbands insurance thank god, but I do genuinely think in the next 5-10 years we will be on a system like the US and Australia where we need private medical as standard. The NHS is crumbling.

Try PALS or ringing the named consultant’s secretary.

The ED doctor could have made contact with the surgical team if they thought it was that important….

I second contacting the consultant's secretary, if you have a name for the consultant. Phone them and explain, they can often see about getting you an appointment if you need one but perhaps more importantly for you, they can put your problem in front of the consultant directly.
It sounds very necessary in your case.

Around 13% of the population has private healthcare. That’s about 1 in 8. According to The Guardian. I’m not sure where you got 1 in 3. It’s only for the well off. The oldies won’t be able to get cover they can afford

There is nothing the gp can do. Contact the bookings team and ask to be added to last minute cancellation slots. Phone the secretaries and explain symptoms are worse, but waiting lists are years in some places

Going private doesn't mean having private healthcare necessarily. We paid 14k to get my 92yo nans hip done privately as didn't want her last years being in agony and unable to move

The GP can ask for an expedite letter, it might help but probably not, everyone wants one, that's about all they can do once its been referred.
You're best bet is to contact the consultants secretary but NHS waiting lists are long.

Tried all day yesterday to contact the bookings team, nobody even picked up 🤷🏼‍♀️

Exactly this. The GP can’t do everything.

Try and email the department as well and also call the direct speciality department - when you email the department ask to get in contact with your consultant's secretary. Maybe try again with the bookings team (look on the website, see if there is another number).

Was the A&E department you went to the same as the hospital your DM has been referred to outpatient?

Write to them using snail mail, and cc your GP.

My recent NHS appointment arrangements were all done by post. My post is shocking and the first appointment letter was undelivered, so I just had a letter advising me I was being removed from the list due to non-attendance. I couldn't get through by phone, but I wrote a letter (and cc:ed my GP) saying I hadn't received the letter, and could I go back on the list, and if my GP needed to re-refer me, then could they do that. My GP confirmed they had re-referred me, and I had another appointment letter come through (by post again, but this one actually received) a few weeks later.

I find it hard to believe with all the email and apps out there, they are still printing and sending out letters, but there you go!

GP isn’t the right person.

phone the hospital department. Find out who the referral has gone to. If they have a secretary, ring them up and say you are happy to take any last minute cancellations and are very keen to be seen.

It’s the secretaries you need to phone, not the bookings team. The latter won’t have much clout whereas the former are key. I hope it works out well OP

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25260148.nhs-dying-eyes-third-scots-go-private/

The NHS is over and the process of pretending otherwise is causing people to die unnecessarily.

Yeah I remember as a kid my mum saying how awful it was in the ussr because you had to bribe the doctor's secretary for an appointment. Funny old world.

Been looking for an email address but can’t find anything - and I’m pretty good at finding stuff like that. For some reason she doesn’t seem to have a consultant- she’s just under the “general surgery team”, which isn’t much help.

There will be a clinical lead for surgery, you could start there. Don’t worry, they will soon pass you down to the relevant person.

If you absolutely have to you can chase the referral through the system.

i had to do this with my son as he needed a tooth out under GA and the NHS lost his referral six times.

i found out from the orthodontist who they sent the referral to. I then rang them and asked them to check their records and check whether it had been received (not lost in the post) and if they’d sent it on and to whom.

(it transpired it had got lost in the transition between paper records and a computer system. At some point they simply labelled all the paper records as complete and so the computer was rejecting the referral as according to it the operation was done. In reality it hadn’t been….)

Where I live, everyone who needs a new hip or knee goes private. None of them have insurance, they have spent their savings to avoid the pain and immobility caused by the shitshow that is our local NHS Trust.

OP you need to make a noise and be a nuisance, not with the GP, but with the team your DM is with.

Maybe try to either call the hospital reception and ask for the details of the general surgery team whether that be email etc. I do think they often have little information for contact on the websites as if they purposely want to make it more difficult.