Hospital letter saying I may be offered surgery at other hospital

[ferns80]

Hi

Apologies in advance for long post. I had surgery at the endometriosis centre in Aberdeen for stage 4 recto-vaginal endo in 2019. This is not my local NHS area. I am now on the waiting list, for over a year, for further surgery (as expected) with the same consultant. I was happy with this as my consultant was brilliant. My symptoms are being controlled by being on decapeptyl so I’m not in the same pain etc as I was before my first operation so happy to be down the priority list from people who are really suffering.

I had a letter in a couple weeks ago to say that due to long waiting lists I may be offered surgery at other health boards. If I refuse two appointments I’ll come off the list and have to go back to the end of it.

This is making me quite anxious as I want to be treated by the same team who did such a good job previously. My understanding is if I have stage 4 endo I should be treated at a specialist centre of which there are only 2 in Scotland - I think - Aberdeen and Edinburgh. I’d be okay to go to the specialist centre in Edinburgh but I don’t want the operation to happen in any hospital as they don’t have the endometriosis expertise. I had a pretty poor experience in my local health board prior to being referred to the specialist centre.

I’m wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and managed to argue to be treated at the hospital they were referred to? Or if this is just a standard letter everyone on a waiting list has been sent?

[AllthatGlitters]

hello I am in the Grampian health board area and I also received this letter. It’s a generic letter as my husband received the same one for surgery he is waiting on too. I read earlier that NHS Grampian is nearly full to capacity and not many beds left.

You also have Albyn which they would send you to even though it’s private, if beds are available then why not use them?

X

[Tired73]

Contact PALS via email where the endo specialist centre is and express your concerns, naming the consultant you want to do your surgery and fears that general gynaecology departments don't have the surgical skill to treat you. They should contact you within 2 weeks and hopefully allay your fears. I had a mix up with referal to endo centre and got it all cleared up through PALS. Good luck xx