Urgent referral (not cancer related) waiting times

[Pseud]

Struggling to find the answer to this via Google - GP has said she is putting in an urgent referral to a gastroenterologist, and I’ve been trying to work out likely wait times. All I can find is the expectation that you’re seen within 18 weeks for non urgent referrals, and 2 weeks if it’s an urgent referral where there’s a possibility of cancer, which doesn’t apply here. Is there such a thing as a general ‘urgent referral’, or is that just a phrase she’s used, and it’ll fall into the 18 week category?

Aware that waiting times are often a lot worse than that currently. We would struggle to afford to go private but if it’s going to take up to 6 months to see someone we may not have a choice.

Hi @Pseud I work in the nhs, although not gastroenterology. If we receive an urgent referral (not suspected cancer) then it is usually discussed at our MDT meeting and one of our consultants will usually decide how urgent it is; this is usually within 4 weeks. Although sometimes the Gp will mark a referral urgent and then our consultants will read it and say it's not urgent. I'd give it a couple of days and ring the department and just how long could you be expecting to wait and they may be able to give you and idea

It obviously depends on the symptoms but I suspect if there are no red flag symptoms it won’t get put forward as urgent. I was referred to gastroenterology August 2020 and I have just had my appointment through for end of July!

Many thanks both - some optimism balanced with some realism there! Good idea to follow up with the department once they’ve had a chance to review, to see how the land lies. Then I can workout what I might need to do next. Not a good time to need health care at the moment.