Finding out who the consultant is and getting access to medical records

[Myunclejohn]

Hello,
My uncle has had an endoscopy and a ct scan which has shown an ulcer and a lesion on the stomach. He saw his GP in person today. The GPs best guess is that he has lymphoma but we aren’t sure. He is losing weight and the “fortis” drinks have slowed but not stopped the weight loss.

My brothers are supporting him as they live closer and one of them accompanied him today. My uncle took the opportunity to tell the doctor he could speak directly with my brother.

Unfortunately it may be two weeks before we have a firm diagnosis and a plan.

my uncle is very tired/not his usual self. However, he is determined that there should be a plan and he should have the best care available. He is happy for any of us to access his medical records.

Am I right in thinking that he must be under the care of a consultant? And that he can get access to his medical records?

my uncle is quite well off and has never hesitated to go private in the past. If the consultant has a private practice he may wish to use this.

I’d appreciate any practical tips.

Bump

I’m not clear what you’re asking. Doesn’t your uncle know who he saw? Didn’t he take names then?

He can access his records, he can ask his g.p for a copy of his scans but without a firm diagnosis it will be hard to formulate a plan, is he having other tests done. What makes the g.p think its lympoma, is he being referred to a haematologist. Who requested the ct scan and the endoscopy, if it was the g.p then the hospital will have sent the report to the g.p signed by whoever did the tests.

I think a registrar did the test lapdog

He may have had an open access endoscopy - (referred by his GP,) which has shown a suspicious lesion and he has now been referred under the 2 week pathway for suspected cancer. They won't be able to give a definitive diagnosis until he is seen in clinic and they have biopsy results assuming they took them at endoscopy.

You would need Medical power of attorney to discuss a family members medical records. On his say so won't be sufficient.

Whenever I've had an endoscopy (and I've had several, of various sorts, unfortunately) I've always been given a print off of the results, with little thumbnail photos, and a summary of what they saw. It has the name of the endoscopist on it.

But the endoscopist has rarely been the person actually treating me, and unless they find nothing at all, my experience has been that the report then goes to the consultant and they schedule a follow up appt / meds / more tests / whatever.

It might be that he either needs the report / biopsy results to go to the consultants dept, and then he'll hear from them. Or, he already has a consultant and they ordered the scope, in which case it will be whoever he saw at the appt who referred him for the scope.

2 weeks does sound like the urgent 2 week wait pathway, which may be that 'something' has been seen and now needs a referral to a specialist consultant within 2 weeks.

thank you all so much. This is what I know.

1 he had weight loss and mild stomach discomfort at night for weeks
2 he had blood tests (local clinic) which came out fine
3 still concerned he went to a private gastroenterologist
4 that doctor was concerned and wrote to GP requesting “2ww referral upper gi pathway, urgent endoscopy and ct scan.”
5 the endoscopy showed an ulcer and the ct showed a lesion on the abdomen and spots on the lungs
6 he’s been referred for further investigation to a multidisciplinary team I think.

his GP didn’t feel able to offer much more than say (when asked) what his suspicion is. It may be another couple of weeks before there is a plan.

what, if anything, can he do whilst waiting?

MrsPerfect, I think the power of attorney thing is about making medical decisions on behalf of others rather than just accessing information.

The appointment letter should name a consultant even if he was actually seen by one of the team.

Lizs thank you

I’m sorry as he sounds so worried. I think since there’s an MDT this is probably best for now: have a plan, see which speciality he needs to deal with primary. Then you can get second opinions if you wanted. He’ll be copied in in all correspondence, unless he opts out. Best wishes.

^primarily

Thank you [mdt?]

MDT Multidisciplinary team ie if a case requires input from more than one specialist or therapist.

That’s not true. My mother’s Gp phoned me from the surgery when she was with him and said she’d given permission. He then told me her diagnosis

Thank you