NHS targets / timeframe for SALT referral

[Bluebirdonmyshoulder]

Does anyone know if there's a timeframe for a SALT appoinment following referral?

Thanks.

I don't know. I do know that in my Health Trust, the referral is done via letter. That letter is generated following the Consultant Appointment, dictated by the Consultant.

The secretaries type the letters, except that the Heath Trust made lots of them redundant last year.

As a result, DD1 saw the Consultant on 2nd January and we still haven't had the Consultant letter, which means that we still haven't yet been referred to SALT, let alone being on a waiting list

Lots of places still have the 18wk-from-referral-to-appt deadline, but as Lougle says referral in itself can take ages. Plus the NHS is starting to do things in different ways in different places as the new structure starts to kick in, so there is no guarantee the 18wk rule still stands where you are.

I always chase up to see if a referral has been made, as often I've found that letters that should have been sent never got sent. A month is a reasonable time to allow admin staff to catch up with typing letters. So if nothing's happened a couple of months down the line it's worth checking 1) if a referral has been received with SLT and 2) if not, whether a referral letter has actually been generated.

Thanks all but would you believe that I got a phone call offering an appointment about an hour after I posted this!

Am beginning to feel slightly paranoid that the NHS knows my MN login name and is watching me . Still at least they must be scared of me!

In all seriousness we'd had the speech one, this SALT appt was for the feeding skills and it's been within 18 weeks from seeing the paed. So sorry to hear others are waiting even longer.

That's good news.
Al departments have specific waiting times and go into near breakdown if someone is at risk of 'breaching'. That is a prospect worth than the bubonic plague to some managers (hence the gross mismanagement and obsession with targets which has caused all the havoc we are hearing so much about.)

Some depts. have quite...imaginative ways of working out when the clock starts ticking, so to speak. If you give them a ring, either now or in the future, they will tell you the waiting time and when the clock starts.

S/lts who work with dysphagia (feeding issues) generally have a high level of specialist training in this field and know their stuff. Hope it goes well.

"Some depts. have quite...imaginative ways of working out when the clock starts ticking, so to speak."

Yes, my Trust is quite canny....make all the secretaries redundant, clinic letters delayed by 2 months and counting....clock doesn't start ticking until the referral letter arives....job done!

Not surprised to hear that at all!

In my PCT, most referrals go to a panel before accepted as referrals. The panel nearly always sends a letter back to the GP saying 'are you absolutely sure? We'll take the referral if you see the patient once again to be absolutely certain'.

Then you get a letter asking you to make an appointment with the GP. The receptionist asks whether it is regarding a referral. If yes, you have to wait 2 weeks. Then you eventually get to see the GP who asks if you would like to be re-referred.

I kid you not.

And this is in my new, better humane LA!

I have also realised they are creative in holding up referrals in order to make waiting lists look better. My dd1 was referred by gp in Nov, I then received a letter 4 weeks later saying they needed further info from school before they could accept the referral, I had to send this back through the GP. So it took 2 months from GP's initial referral before she was actually added to the waiting list :-/ GP then referred dd2 for something else 5 weeks ago, I rang yday and apparently it was not received. Very annoying!

I think child development centres have panels assessing collated evidence before accepting referrals.

My ENT dept., however has a 'waiting list to go on the waiting list'. Which is particularly impressive.