anyone experience of changing hospitals in an attempt to hasten treatment?

[peridito]

Friend was scheduled for triple bypass heart surgery in Nov 2020 .Still waiting .

He has been told that if he changes hospital he will go to the bottom of that hospital's list and loose his place on the list he's currently on .

Is that how it works ?

He can talk to his gp about the waiting times at different hospitals, in my experience GPs often have a good idea of what the average times are. But yes, I think he’d go to the bottom of the list at the new place. That certainly happened to me for orthopedic surgery when I moved hospital.

Thank you Covid .He lives in Suffolk near Ipswich and is on Papworths waiting list .I just wonder if ,because it is such a renowned hospital ,it may have very long waiting times .

He does have patient choice and ask to be transferred to another hospital but post Covid their waiting times will be as bad. If he asked for a transfer his waiting time transfers with him so he doesn’t go to the bottom of the list. It’s tough and so hard but at the moment they will wait whichever hospital they are at

And also he will potentially need a specialist centre so for example Ipswich may not do that procedure (which is why he is at Papworth)

If he asked for a transfer his waiting time transfers with him - that's interesting Abidan .He has been told the opposite .

I'm trying to see if I can access info on waiting times for different trusts and specialities .I've not been able to make much sense of NHS data
[[https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/rtt-data-2020-21/]].The most recent spreadsheet seems to lack data .

If he is on an 18 week pathway then the pathway continues with his treatment. This is all contained in the National guidance and right to treatment. Waiting times at the moment are very ambivalent due to Covid and the inaccuracy of what is reported is misleading.

If he wants to really push then ask his consultant what he has been clinically prioritised under the post Covid regulations issued under from NHS England.

However I am afraid to say that there may be a wait regardless of how he approaches this and even with changing hospitals they may want to start from scratch with their own investigations and consultations which will prolong ....

Thank you so much Abidan ,I do understand the points you make in your final sentence !

I have found from this
www.nhs.uk/service-search/other-services/Hospital/Ipswich/Results/367/1.15/52.056/7/11412?distance=25&ResultsOnPageValue=10&isNational=0&totalItems=11&currentPage=1
that University College hospital seems to have significantly shorter waiting times than Papworth .

I can see that lists are based on clinical urgency and chronology .I can't find any reassurances that changing hospitals won't negatively affect chronology .Though this would suggest that this wouldn't happen .

If you want to change hospitals and you
are allowed to then your health care staff
must do everything they can to give you a
choice of other hospitals that can see you
sooner

But this quote seems to suggest that you do start again ???

Waiting times can vary between hospitals and you have the right to be referred to another hospital that may be able to start your treatment sooner

Waiting times start from the day the hospital receives the referral letter, or when you book your first appointment through the NHS e-Referral Service.

I don't understand >>>sob

If you ask the hospital that they are currently under to refer to another hospital then they have to submit an inter trust referral which means that you are transferring care so the pathway continues.

If you say to Papworth I don’t want to come to you and please discharge me then go to the GP asking to be referred into the new hospital then the pathway does start again

The 18 week pathway continues until the patient receives treatment for what they were referred in for ... unless you break that pathway!

However I do think moving hospitals is very difficult and actually Papworth should be looking at where patients could be alternatively treated. This is part and parcel of the guidance under post Covid recovery to give all patients equitable service

Also, as I understand it, even surgeons within the same hospital may have different length waiting lists. It might be worth asking whether this surgeon has a colleague with a shorter waiting list? Is there a particular reason for choosing this surgeon in particular?

Thank you ,that's so helpful .

One thing that puzzles me is that when searching the NHS site Papworth has 0 for the number of heart bypass procedures carried out .

I guess it must be an admin thing ,though it's not tagged "no data available " as elsewhere on the data .

My experience with waiting lists (albeit for much less serious operation than heart surgery) was that they had all sorts of tricks to make it seem like they were meeting the waiting list guidelines. You would get put on an unofficial waitlist to get on the official waitlist. I needed foot surgery and waited 6 months to see a specialist and then another 6 months for the surgery. The official notes showed me as having been on a wait list for 9 or 10 weeks. AND I received no aftercare to speak of because they were completely understaffed. This was in West London.

Yes that sounds par for the course .

But really I'm not sure what the point is of having targets and fining hospitals for not meeting them .Surely it makes a bad situation/struggling hospital's situation worse ?

The other thing I would say is that if your friend's symptoms are getting worse then they absolutely must kick up a fuss about it. They may (rightly) need to be prioritised for treatment ahead of their place on the waiting list.

@Reallybadidea agree - don’t hold back and worry about hospitals being overwhelmed or too busy - you absolutely must seek medical advice if condition is getting worse!

Thank you Reallybadidea and Abidan . The stress of living with a partly functioning heart and a huge operation looming who knows when is very disabling .
And I just don't think that the person in question is being treated or informed as he should be .