East London referrals and new patients

[beachbum85]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone is in a similar situation and can offer some more info:

In July, my GP referred us to a fertility consultant for primary subfertility. A month after the referral was accepted by Newham Hospital, their gynae dept called to say they're actually not making appointments for new patients.

My GP gave me an open referral with 7 hospitals in East London to choose from - thing is the online tool says that no appointments are available for either of them. I requested a callback from Whipps Cross, and I tried to call them to check if they are able to make appointments for new patients, but no luck so far.

Has anyone had any luck with something like this? I understand long waits due to COVID backlogs, but I just would like to avoid waiting for 2 weeks x 7 hospitals to then be told that they won't be able to schedule an appointment at all.

Thanks a lot!

Just an update in case it might be useful for anyone else:
Whipps Cross are scheduling appointments for new patients, with a waiting time of around 6 weeks.

Thanks @beachbum85 — I hope it goes well with you. I went private but was with Homerton for 18 months. They recently called me (since being shot in March) that their progressing treatment again. I hope whipps treat you well!

Thanks @ChicaXS
Glad to hear Homerton are up-and-running again too.
Best of luck to you - I'm sure private is a lot quicker and less stressful, and I hope you're happy with how things are progressing for you :)