How long is the wait for urgent gallbladder removal?

[smallglassbottle]

On average, how long would a wait be for gallbladder removal marked as Urgent? Not in hospital or acutely ill, but do have chronic pancreatitis and in constant pain. No infection present anywhere.

For my dsd recently, about a month. That’s in the South East.

I am in Scotland and was told 2 weeks ago that the urgent list was currently at 70 weeks 😱

I'm in a bad way with constant pain and 3-4 attacks a week which I need to take morphine for. Ended up getting a private consultation and I'm booked in at a Spire hospital for removal in 6 weeks. I absolutely cannot afford this but feel like I have no option.

I'm sorry to hear you are suffering with this and hope your wait time isn't too long.

Can you not exercise right to choose? Is that possible in Scotland? Apologies I'm not familiar with the system and know there are some differences. I had mine out privately but via NHS RTC, I only ever had one attack so not urgent and mine was gone in 7 months.

No, the healthcare system in Scotland is genuinely nightmarish (you still get old dears saying "still at least things are better than down south!" I assume based on muscle memory)

If you get a really bad attack, I’d recommend getting yourself down to A&E. I ended up being admitted and they removed my gall bladder within the week. Just as well as it nearly perforated.

I'm keeping it under control with careful diet and meds as it will set my pancreas off if I get an attack. They stick you in the waiting room in A&E and ignore you and I can't do that again so I remain at home.

My husband ended up in A&E with the pain. Yes it was a wait but they admitted him and he had it out within days.

My partner's gallbladder was removed seven months after being diagnosed as urgent. In those seven months, they were rushed into hospital with blues and twos on three occasions. We live near Preston in the North West.

That sounds awful.
Even on fat free diet?
what is causing the pain?

Unfortunately not 😪

My mum's gallbladder was removed 8 weeks after diagnosis. She was diagnosed with gallstones after an admission due to them blocking her liver duct causing sepsis and jaundice. They would have removed it that week but she was 1 week post op from a different stomach operation. As she stabilised they said they wanted to wait until she was 6 weeks post operation for that surgery. It was 9 weeks in the end. This was in 2024.

Keep an eye on symptoms re. Pancreatitis, my sister became severely unwell due to pancreatitis and gallstones. They couldn't remove her gallbladder as her pancreatitis was making her too unwell. They fitted a stent to help the gallstones from blocking the pancreas and removed the gallbladder a few months later. This was delayed as they accidentally discharged her from the out patient clinic after her post op check for the stent procedure. This was in 2010 so wait times are not comparable to now! My sister was a frequent flier in a and e and had been told to not attend a and e by her GP. She hadn't had a diagnosis of gallstones at this point it was unidentified abdominal pain. The last time she went we had to force her to go and we are glad we did as the pancreatitis had caused sepsis and she was given 50:50 odds of surviving the night and my parents were called to the hospital at 3 am to be with her. Thankfully all was well in the end

Yeah, I've followed a less than 3% fat diet since gallstones were first suspected. The attacks have just got closer and closer together since I was first diagnosed in April.
According to the doctors, my gallbladder is extremely inflamed which is causing the constant pain.
It's so hard to keep going when I'm feeling so rough all the time. Only plus point is the weight is falling off me but I know this isn't ideal long term.

If you are in Scotland, you are in for a long wait, op. Sorry

A lot of it will depend where you are as ive seen waits massively vary for surgery in other areas. I had a friend wait 9 months after being put on the urgent list.

I'm in the North of England. I'll just have to wait. I was just curious. I don't know how people get seen with this in A&E to be honest.

My tips are:

Avoid all commercial bakery products, even bread, which has palm oil in it.
Avoid all sugary and processed foods.
Avoid all acidic foods. I can't even eat strawberries.
Limit coffee and tea intake. I drink redbush tea.
Avoid all fatty/greasy foods.
Avoid all spicy foods.
Don't overload the stomach. Eat smaller meals, more frequently.

Things I can eat:

Baby Rice
Baby Porridge
Complan Drinks with semi skimmed milk
Chicken without skin and fish
Low fat yoghurt
Blueberries
Bananas
Pears
Cottage Cheese
Eggs
Most vegetables
Small amount of olive oil to cook vegetables in.
Home made soups

My GP has prescribed Mebeverine 135mg, three times a day, which limits the spasms. Mebeverine is better than Buscopan.

I was admitted twice from A&E. Once due to a blockage that caused jaundice, one for pancreatitis developed after a endoscopic dredge of the bile duct.

Neither time did the surgeons on rounds talk about removal. At all. I was already on the waiting list and there was no desire to bump me up.

I came out of the hospital following pancreatitis and immediately booked in for private removal, which happened 6 weeks later. I took out a loan. In those 6 weeks I was very poorly. It was horrific. I used to max out on paracetamol and ibuprofen with buscapan to get me through my one meal a day. I had a bottle of morphine at home. Fuck all helped.

12 months after I'd had it removed privately, I got a call from the NHS to schedule my surgery. Personally I think i'd have died by the time the NHS got round to it.

I came on mumsnet to post almost exactly the same question. I have had pain under my right rib since 2022, 4 ultrasounds that showed no stones but several polyps. Pain worse this Jan - went GP who said she'd refer me to General Surgery. I think she forgot. I chased up the referral on 24 Feb and got a text to say I'd been referred to Gastroenterology as of 24 Feb! Asked Nurse to expedite my referral in June. That hasn't got to the hospital either - either she forgot or did not do it properly. I have written a complaint to my GP. I am in pain. It has lessened a bit but Sunday and Monday were horrible. I have packed a bag for A&E and will go, or actually will call 111, if it gets worse. I have a big list of dates that I have tried to get help from my GP so if they start any rubbish about why did I go to A&E I can show them. When I have called the Gastro Team they say I may be getting a telephone call from them in December. Bloody gallbladder may well have exploded by then. Saw yet another GP last Saturday who has referred me to General Surgery, or at least he said he was going to. Probably forgot, or didn't bother. I am eating low fat and little and often to try to manage the pain. NHS is a joke. And I work for them.....

It is certainly a battle to get them to do anything.

I waited years on the so called urgent list in Northern Ireland.

it was a complete nightmare.

finally got it removed in 2025. What a relief!

My mlsister was being seen in a &e for 3 years before they realised that it was gallstones, she was 14 the first time she went to A &E. When she was having a bad flare up she could be there twice a week for morphine. They were assuming it was psychological. It was only when she had sepsis and acute pancreatitis that they found the gallstones which they were originally putting down to binge drinking even though she didn't drink and barely left the house.

I’m actually horrified and very scared after reading these posts

Postcode lottery unfortunately.

Took me nine months in my area of Scotland and that was unusually fast(!), my doctor was really fantastic and was on at them constantly, writing escalation letters, contacting secretary, until they gave me an appointment with another health board. Otherwise it would have been probably another year. Pal in England had a very long wait and went private instead.

They also don’t like to remove it when it’s flaring so will generally discharge you with it still intact if you’re admitted unless it’s life or death.

I have similar pain. Unfortunately since the ultrasound showed no stones and a CT showed nothing my GP just did a routine referral to gastro.
The current wait for an initial appointment is 22 to 41 weeks. And that's before they do any tests.

I had suffered with what I now know were gallbladder attacks for a year. After my last attack, I was admitted to hospital with acute pancreatitis. I had to wait 2 weeks for my gallbladder to be removed. I’m down in the south.