NHS urgent referrals - waiting time

[Borderline77]

Hi,
Last month my GP referred me to an urologist , he marked it as urgent after the ultrasound found something on my kidney,
On my NHS account it said the review by the hospital was due on Jan 9th , if they hadn't contact me to call them. They didn't contact me so I called them she said she saw it as urgent but I still have to wait months for an appointment.
Is that right?

I read somewhere for non urgent is 18 weeks , so urgent should be less

still says review by clinic overdue on my NHS account

Dp has finally been seen for his 'urgent' urology referral after 20 months...

Was 550 for all - including results

Also once u have private results - ya can give them to your nhs gp

( my ct scan was nhs but then needed urgent MRI)

i had to borrow money to go private for an urgent mri scan which came showed that I have a degenerate brain disease and have suffered mini strokes, im still waiting on the nhs appointment and I was referred in June. It’s a shambles.

**Edited to add - I've been waiting over a year for an operation on an urgent list, 2 week path way etc was done very fast.

Ask your GP to do an additional "advice & guidance" referral with all the details. These are usually reviewed by the consultants within a few weeks, sometimes even on the same day for some departments.

Where I currently work GP's cannot order CT or MRI scans, these have to ordered by consultants which is ridiculous. The area I previously work in GP's could order CT's and MRI's.

It's because you don't understand how the consultant contract works.

I work 20% more than full time (12 paid activities (PAs)) A PA is 4 hours normal time, or three hours weekends or nights. Pretty much No NHS trust will pay more than 12PA other than rare circumstances for management or leadership roles. In reality I actually do about 13-14 PA but don't get paid for the extra.

Because a lot of my PA is covering weekend and nights, I can have a 12 PA job plan and still and 1 1/2 days per week and 6 out of every 10 weekends do do what I want with, including private work. The point being that many consultants couldn't do extra NHS work in that time, even if they wanted to, which they don't, as the marginal tax rate is about 68% if you have kids and work between 10 and 16 PA, it's massively more efficient to set up a company and work for a private employer or do legal work.

Emergency tooth extraction, it will be a year next month

I find the NHS completely perplexing.

I have severe osteoporosis and take an injectable medication which my consultant says is optimal. 6 breaks in five years including two vertebra. The NHS will not fund the £2400 for a two year course of treatment because I do not reach the bar. I means I need regular blood test including ALP.

In the summer the ALP was high. I had always had a couple of glasses of wine a day exceeding limits but not hugely so. LFTs, ALT and GGT were marginally raised. This initiated huge fears about my liver function from the consultant's ITM3 Dr. Who referred for an urgent ultrasound (came through in 4 weeks) which was inconclusive, referred for an urgent fibroscan, NHS appointment came through in 4 weeks. My liver was near perfect with scores of 4.6 and 239 - very mildly fatty liver due to non alcoholic fatty liver disease. The liver consultant thought the referral was nuts.

Every blood test relating to my liver was done, every blood test relating to everything else was done. All twice. The abnormalities were the ALP and my cholesterol was through the roof. Evidently the osteoporosis meds (teriparatide) can cause hypercholastemia. No base line test is done when the medication starts.

The ALP remained and remains raised. The liver stuff made me give up alcohol and alter my diet, along with the high cholesterol. I have lost two stone and also have brought the cholesterol down a lot by diet alone.

As I already have thyroid disease, I saw a consultant endocrinologist to make sure the everything was properly titrated: vit D, levo, etc, and to get some ammo against going onto a statin. He ran the bloods again ALP still up. He recommended a full body bone isotope scan to rule out Pagets. Took 6 weeks to come through. It didn't rule out Pagets. Referred the report to my osteoporosis consultant because teriparatide is contraindicated with Pagets.

This was the first ime I spoke to her since the summer (6 month gap). She casually said "have you had an ALP enzyme test to identify if it's coming from none?" Er no. The ALP was from bone NOT liver.

A simple test was available and yet the NHS had money to spend on an: ultrasound, a fubroscan, and a full body bone isotope scan. The Osteo consultant said "oh if it's from bone, it's related to the teriparatide, it isn't uncommon".

The right hand simply doesn't know what the left hand is doing even without the waits. On that basis something has to be systemically wrong.

And they refuse to pay for my osteoporosis medication but piss thousands up the wall on stuff that isn't necessary.

Note: The ultrasound, fibroscan and endocrinologist appointment were paid for privately, despite the fact I was sent NHS appointments. Not because it was quicker but because the appointments worked better with my professional diary and the staff are more user friendly

Mother needs an urgent TAVI for severe atrial stenosis (replacement of heart valve). Issue identified October - CT scans and much more sorted quickly. Surgery expected by 31 March 2024 NHS.

It's perplexing but I don't believe it's about funding rather than competence and bureaucracy.

Yes. I'm in Scotland I'm an area with paper records. I had a set of NHS xrays done on London in 2019 - still not attached to my file - not just as CHI number string is a different length but also because 'ones taken in Edinburgh (35 away) can't be linked up either'. Says Consultant with a shrug. I've been told I was on a wait list for sugary since 2020. Turns out I'm not. NHS isn't for for purpose & it's both decades of 'holy cow' & the last 14 yrs deliberate destruction.

I assume youve sent your private results to nhs gp and had an appt with gp ? Hope so

Hey - i.also have fatty liver / nafld

My urgent urology referral was 7 months. That was after having contacted PALS, not sure how long it would have been otherwise. Was a couple of years ago now.

Many disciplines have a waiting list of way longer than 18 weeks for non-urgent referrals. They've not recovered from when things stopped for covid but tbh a lot were behind before that. I saw a thing that showed waiting times for each hospital v national average but can't remember where 🤦🏻‍♀️ Maybe BBC?

Hope you get some news soon @Borderline77

Gosh reading this thread on how long urgent referrals it's really frightening

Does anyone know if family history is a big factor in GP deciding if urgent referral is necessary?

Urgent has different meanings in each specialty.
we have emergency , urgent , soon and routine. We used to specify number of weeks but can’t anymore.

GPs can request as urgent but the urgency is re graded at secondary care triage.

Full time consultants delivery at least 10 4 hour sessions a week to the NHS but some of this will be out of hours ie on call. It’s up to us if we use our free time to earn more. Personally I deliver extra NHS sessions because I can’t cope with a second system.

Found the waiting time info: https://www.myplannedcare.nhs.uk/

Don't think it covers 2WW referrals though.

I'm waiting for an operation to remove a large ovarian cyst. Emergency dash to A and E last January. Hospital appointment March 2023 and I was told the wait time was 12 weeks. Silly me thought that meant 12 weeks for treatment. Nope. It meant a 12 week wait to see a consultant where she told me the wait was a year. That was literally it. An appointment to tell me I would wait a year. Oh and I should have both ovaries removed BECAUSE THAT WOULD SAVE ME COMING BACK IN THE FUTURE. Next appointment October which was cancelled and rebooked for June. It's a complete shit show.

This thread is TERRIFYING.

Tories+Covid+Brexit = death to the poor.

My dad died last year whilst on a waiting list for an "urgent" neurology referral.

It was preventable. I'd suggest anyone waiting for an urgent referral looks into a private consultant appointment. The NHS is dead.

It is scary when those are some life-threatening things.

It's bad enough for quality of life things - I had urgent ultrasound for my shoulder, which ended up being 6 months later. In that time, I've developed tears in the tendons that weren't there before.

I am waiting to see the consultant to discuss surgery, but I can't imagine how long the wait for that will be, given that it's only 'minor' (anyone have any ideas how long the wait might be? more than a year?). But I'm in a lot of pain and can't do my activities, hobbies etc., and in the time that I'll have to wait, the chances are higher that it'll progress, and that it'll work less well once I finally have it done.

I’m in Wales, Labour controlled NHS here. I was referred in April 2019.
Still waiting, am told I will get an appointment as soon as possible.
I know some of the appointments team quite well by now, I call every couple of months so they know I haven’t died or got better and still need the appointment.

Thanks. How long did you wait until you contacted PALS?
not knowing how long I'll have to wait is very concerning to say the least

I was told that too about having both removed and I have refused to agree to it and have only agreed to one. How dare they try and save time with women's bodies?!

also what does exactly mean (when I'm on my NHS account) 'You have 1 referral or appointment you need to action..' I mean already did, I called the hospital but there is nothing else I can 'action' .The status remains the same 'Your referral has not yet been reviewed'

and what's the e-referral? anyone can book an appointment? I don't understand , I thought it has to be through your GP