waiting times for laparoscopy??

[Emerlee]

hi,

can anyone tell me about their experiences with waiting times for surgery?

I paid to see an endo specialist consultant privately after finding out the referral waiting list was 4 months. He suspects that I may have endo.

He then referred me back through the nhs to be on the waiting list for him to perform the laparoscopy and excision of any endo they might find.

I spoke to the appointments team who said it could be a year waiting for an appointment for surgery. It’s been about 3 months so far and I’ve got a letter for a re-operative appointment next week.

… does this mean I might expect the surgery sooner do you think? I’m very low risk for surgery with a healthy bmi etc. I’m so confused and, like us all, really struggling with pain and symptoms whilst I wait!!

My appointments are being dealt with in Plymouth if anyone has any experience with this hospital..?

[jazz20]

I waited 7 months from the referral date for my surgery

[Sara110]

hi

Waiting time for lap is depending on how swear js your situation is . For me waiting time is not much but diagnostic time is alot more than a year . When they had my MRI after 3 months they gave me surgery time and date

[PBGV24]

every hospital and every trust has different waiting times. You can also look online. The nhs does have a part online you can check your trusts wait times for surgery and specifically Gynae

[Sholla in reply to PBGV24]

hi where online is that information? Thanks so much

[PBGV24 in reply to Sholla]

myplannedcare.nhs.uk/

[ChelWestie]

I was told 8-10months wait time on NHS (London South West) for the lap so I paid privately at the same hosp (£5k approx) as I was going through IVF and with my age I could not afford to wait another year. Outcome was Endo confirmed - much to my relief as it just made so much sense and now I have something to work with.

[AnonymieJB]

i waited 11 months in the UK, however once id been for my preoperative assessment my op was 3 weeks later. Hope this helps and i hope your appointment is not to much longer.

[Luna20]

The fact that you have a pre-op appoibtment is hopeful. They can't do those too far in advance of the op itself.

[CryBaby91]

I waited almost 18 months in total, around 3 months for my initial NHS appointment (I saw him private initially so we knew the lap was the way to go before hand), then a further 2 months for a pre-op, then 56 weeks (1 year 1 month) before my surgery.

[Emerlee]

thanks everyone, really helpful. I called them again today to ask if they had an idea, they said if pre-op goes well then they hope to book surgery in by late October. If it’s true then I’m over the moon as I expected a year long wait!! Fingers crossed…

[PinkLaura]

Hi,

My experience with a private consultant was a wait time of about 1 month but this was because I urgently needed surgery. I’m in the West Midlands. I normally have a pre op the week before my surgery so this is a good sign for you. I hope it all goes well x

[Emerlee]

I thought I would post an update here for those who are following this post.

I called the team who had sent my letter for the pre-operative assessment. I said that I would be very keen to take cancellation appointments and would come in any time, last minute, any day, any location…

I then got a call the next day saying they had a cancellation and she remembered talking to me on the phone and would I like the appointment the following week.

Yes please and I was seen for my laparoscopy and was diagnosed with endo the next week. They performed excision of the endo they found during the surgery. (that was almost a month ago now)

Thought I would share this with you all. I would highly recommend calling to follow up with the appoinements teams and stress that you are keen to take cancelled appointments as if they remember talking to you I believe they may be more likely to give you the appointments.

Hope this helps!

Thank you all for your responses and support!