Why has DH's vasectomy referral been cancelled as "inappropriate"?

[pendulum]

GP referred DH quite happily and he got an appointment to have the snip at the local hospital next week.

We've just had a standard-form letter to say that the appt has been cancelled because "the referral was inappropriate". It says that if we have any queries about this we should talk to the GP, and of course we will do so, but he is on holiday for the next two weeks. I'm really annoyed that, even when we get this sorted, we'll have to wait another 2 months for another appointment.

Does anyone have any idea why on earth someone has decided the referral is "inappropriate" ? It's not even clear from the letter whether it's something to do with DH himself or whether the problem is just procedural.

Oh yes - make sure you are nice about the fuss, but make sure they know you are upset. I manage an NHS complaints department and things can get sorted quickly sometimes (depending on what has gone wrong of course). An ally on the inside (which is what PALS are supposed to be) can be really helpful.

Yes I was going to say try PALS, I don't think it can be that the hospital has run out of funds because they wouldn't have sent it back 'inappropriate referral' in that case, you would have just been put on a waiting list as new funds available from 1 April. It could be that your PCT doesn't pay for this procedure though, not all PCTs do, but if this is the case I would have thought your GP would be aware.

Our GP signed the referral form when DH was still on paternity leave after DS3 - I was still in hospital after the birth!

The GP was a little reticent but DH made it absolutely clear that after our unexpected 3rd baby we wanted to make absolutely sure that we had no more accidents