Under 18 ‘urgent’ hospital referral - how long?

[Verbena17]

Hi
GP referral letter - classed as Urgent was sent to hospital on 2nd dec.
I just called hospital again today to ask if he’d been triaged and she said no, not yet!
I said I thought if it was ‘urgent’ they had to be seen within two weeks and she said no, that’s cancer patients only.

Anybody know how long the NHS waiting time policy is for other urgent referrals?

It’s for chest pain/heart pain with right branch bundle block & prolonged QTc.

And when GP’s rush or don’t listen properly to what you’re asking /explaining, their referral letter could be incorrect and not give a true picture of the nature of referral. I wouldn’t usually worry if it was a few months however, for the condition and symptoms for which he’s being referred, there is a chance it could be dangerous to be left undiagnosed for weeks, let alone months.

We had a routine which was upgraded to urgent and the appointment came through within a month

Aha so the opposite way round. I’m hoping they’ll see the letter and see him quickly but don’t think GP put enough info in letter. Although if they see the prolonged QT bit I would hope they would get him in for at least tests.

This would also be the case for us - am just not aware of any

My Dd is 17 and was referred to the cardiologists as an urgent referral. She has a 54 week wait. It is beyond ridiculous

My great-nephew has long QT syndrome which he was tested for as a baby because his grandfather and aunt both had premature deaths before he was born, and his father was tested and is a carrier. Is there a family history of early death from heat attacks?

I’ve actually finally managed to find a private cardiologist who will treat him. We have an appointment now before Xmas.
@marrymeadam im so sorry your dad is having that long a wait - have you called the hospital to ask why it’s that delayed?
even without health insurance, it might be worth getting a private initial assessment (I think it’s around £150 for that first consultation). Then if it’s deemed as more urgent, your GP will be able to perhaps write back to hospital with the report from private doctor and they might reassess as more urgent.

You might find this article helpful

www.gehealthcare.com/insights/article/concerns-and-challenges-with-long-qt-in-children-and-teens

mentions drugs that can cause long qt and also electrolyte balance is important. I hope you get your appointment soon

I’m so sorry to hear that. It’s a very shocking and sad thing to happen.
we haven’t had sudden deaths in the family, however if he does have it, we think it might not be the congenital form….more induced because of his life long eating disorder and the consequences of that.

No, it’s not sad - he has a very good life, is monitored once a year, takes some medication but otherwise is very healthy. He’s never had any pain or visible issues.
The only thing that impacts him is that he can’t do a lot of sport and is football mad! But at 11, he’s researched the condition thoroughly, often has email discussions with his consultant and is well aware of the implications. His other aunt also has it, she’s 42 and has had absolutely no signs or symptoms.
I hope you get the assessments your boy needs to acknowledge or discount this possible diagnosis x

Thank you - that is an excellent article.

sorry - I meant the sudden deaths of his grandfather and aunt.
It’s brilliant that your great nephew lives a full life 😊

I’m glad you found someone to see him. I was going to suggest trying to get someone in London privately. He’s still under paeds at 17 so Portland is always a good place to start

Thanks yes - we’re going to the Royal Papworth at Cambridge so only about an hour from us.

Wow!!!
We finally got the NHS letter giving a phone appointment today!!
For the 28th March!
Thankfully, we took DS to Papworth in December, the week before Xmas.
We left the other NHS hospital appointment referral in case we needed it as well but I’m absolutely stunned that a child (actually ally now turned 18) with special needs and an eating disorder, suffering with recurrent heart and chest pain, breathing difficulties etc was left until the end of March to have a telephone appointment with a ‘nurse or consultant’. He’s autistic and won’t even speak on the telephone!

I’m pretty fuming. I know people on this thread told me ‘urgent’ doesn’t actually mean urgent but that truly is piss-poor service. Fortunately we have private health care but many people do not.

It completely depends on the dept and what it is.

I went from "urgent" to having my operation in 20 days. (NOT cancer)
The "emergancy" MRI appointment that preceded it and should have been done in 48 hours, took a week and half, then it took another week and a half to be discussed (actioned) at MDT meeting, then 20 more days for surgery.

I have recently had another urgent referal (NOT emergancy this time) and time between appointment being told ive gone back to urgent, to having the scan is 18 days. (They need to re-rule-out cancer again)

I hope you’re ok. Must be EP very worrying.

The thing is for DS- you would have thought pretty regular heart pain (with multiple abnormal ECGs), regular breathlessness (unable to go up flight of stairs without needing to rest) and an eating disorder where the child is under 8stone at 6 ft tall, would have resulted in a pretty emergency consultation appointment in person.

I would understand if it was day for acne or a dodgy ankle…..non-urgent.
But when it’s a child’s heart - not excusable really to go through all of December, January, February & March to get a phone appt.