Has anyone else had trouble with being allocated NHS referrals to Consultants on their supposedly perfect system?
I was sent 4 appointments….just attended the first …only to find a GP at my practice whom I have never seen , or even heard of had referred me to the wrong Consultant.
On all 4 of the referrals I received….they all just gave date,time,location…but no name of who I was to see. I admit I just presumed it was with the doctor I was expecting to get an appointment with.
The receptionist at the hospital said this is happening all the time.My next appointment was at the same hospital I have just been to…& I had checked on the NHS site before I left home that it was still there on the list & it was. So when I found the mistake…I asked the receptionist if she could check if my next apt was on her list…& she told me “.No it has been cancelled”
Being the weekend I haven’t been able to check but I have emailed my GP asking what is going on. I am very tempted to walk away from the whole situation…….especially as it is a 54 mile round trip to get there….& traffic is a nightmare.
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I know that our Econsult that was sold to patients as being 24/7 for easy use is now half an hour from 8 am and we’ve gone back to on the day only appointments only so it’s unlikely a lot of patients will see a GP never mind a consultant. It’s getting worse as more demand and a lot now referred to local walk in. That’s ok if you can drive as it’s 3 buses away from this village. Even the local surgery is only open a day a week and buses only run every hour to next village where GP is or 3 times a day to other surgery. I’ve had one appoitment cancelled but it was only for a week although the nurse blood tests are always being cancelled and the Asthma nurse has a waiting list of 6 months.
I haven’t had this experience, but my rheumatologist told me at my last appointment that everyone was sent a 6 month appointment, and she has to find a way round the system to get me an appointment in 3 months! It’s so they can see more patients, but sometimes 6 months is too long for some people.
I have just received two appointments for Endocrinology at different hospitals one day apart. One hospital I do not want to go to as I was messed about with previously and the other I was last one I attended before being discharged, I have also been sent an appointment for another health issue, I have emailed them to explain that I cannot currently attend (it is quite a journey) as I am not able to at present and that it may be in connection with the problem I am having re Endocrinology that I have got the two appointments for and could potentially be resolved (if they 'joined the dots' so to speak). Low and behold they have ignored my request and issued another one saying if I cancel further appointments it could lead to being discharged. I can't get in touch with my GP as their 'system' is down...again and it's been the weekend. Any GP appointment I do get is over three weeks away and stands a chance of being cancelled as has happened before. So I hear you AC, a 54 mile all round trip, the traffic as you say and then trying to find somewhere to park requires stamina and a lot of energy before you even get to the consultation. I hope you can get something clarified and sorted and I will endeavour to unscramble my needlessly complicated situation too, Best Wishes
My recent issue was to do with an urgent ENT referral my respiratory specialist made for me, stressing could I be seen soon. I suffer with laryngeal spasms, and she arranged an urgent CT in Feb, which was done in May, so they would have the info they needed. After waiting 35 weeks I tried to contact the ENT dept, to be told by switchboard that I could only be put through if I had an appointment. So no way of checking if you’ve fallen off the list. So I emailed PALs, who told me my routine referral by my gp had a 62 week wait, and I was only 35 weeks. Flabbergasted that the people who deal with complaints can’t read the details correctly, I informed her it wasn’t my gp but one of their consultants and sent a screenshot of the letter stressing the urgency. 1hr later get a call offering appointment for the next week, which clashed with a double appointment with my gp, re another issue. I was basically told this was the only appointment, and that they would have to tell pals I’d declined. So had to accept and rearrange my double appointment with the surgery, which they thankfully did. The ENT consultant was lovely, and she apologised and said I shouldn’t have been left waiting. It just seems we’re always chasing appointments these days. I had the same issue with an urgent gastroenterology appointment for a large rectal bleed, where I’d fallen off the list, but the secretary kindly booked one for 2 days later. Hope you get a good explanation as to what’s happened, and what appointments still stand and with who. Like you my ENT appointment was a 100 mile round trip, as my respiratory specialist is in Medway, but I live on the East Kent coast.
I've just given up with the whole situation. I'd get several appointments through all different dates. Then another cancelling one. I'd turn up to appointment not cancelled to be told they couldn't find me on the system. Another time I was sent a rude letter informing me I'd not turned up yo an appointment I had not received. It takes 2 buses to get to the hospital. Traffic is hell. GP is as bad. Takes an age to actually speak to someone. I made an appointment, an hour later it was cancelled via text! Good job it's not possible to send replies!
You could request transport via your GP / hospital, if you don't qualify for free transport there are volunteers who will take you for a fraction of the taxi fee
I think I might qualify for Hospital transport at 83 ….minor problem there hasn’t been hospital transport in this area for years.
And…. you try getting anybody to take you on a 50+ mile round trip at 5pm on a Friday evening. . I did in fact get a lift, but I don’t know who was more scared …me or the driver.?
The traffic was horrendous. Everyone was doing 70 miles an hour and wanting to change lanes every five minutes!
Well I am so sorry for all members who have replied with their horror stories….the only consolation is we are all in the same leaky boat.
I am going to try to contact my GP today as the frazzled receptionist at the hospital told me that it was the fault of GPs because they make the appointments with named doctors
So sorry and unlike you to give up! The leaky boat is a good description around here though it’s so hard to see a GP as well. I’ve just heard of an elderly lady who died without her family being able to get the GP out for a home visit for to give pain relief and her granddaughter a midwife had a dreadful disagreement with a locum as she tried to get one to her bedridden Nan and offered to help but was refused. I’ve no idea if it was a legal issue but it’s now getting frightening. The whole disjointed system has to be taken apart and rebuilt without duplication and with less managers which always seems to generate more work. It must be so hard to work in the NHS now and no wonder the staff are leaving and so hard to replace,
I agree…..I have been very dismissive of my GP as I never saw the same doctor twice…so every time I said I had a headache the new doctor said “Last month you said you had neck pain”. I was so tempted to say “ Well…. in my body my neck is attached to my head …..they both ache”
But I guessed I wouldn’t see her again, so I didn’t bother and what happened…… one of the doctors referred me to the wrong surgeon. At least he was the same specialty. She didn’t refer me to an orthopaedic surgeon for an ENT problem.😀
Oh that’s so frustrating and I can empathise with you completely. I had a very similar situation a number of years ago at the start of my RA journey. The consultant I was under at the time in rheumatology was just plain awful and only worked once in a while. If I ever got an appointment I usually ended up with a nurse who said you need to see your consultant ASAP but he was never there. In the end after having 10+ appointments cancelled every year and then getting letters saying I had missed appointments which I never got I saw my MP as my health was really bad and I was beyond struggling. One letter to the chief executive and I’ve never had the problem since. Sometimes it’s necessary to go to the top when you’ve explored all the avenues as I had. Luckily for me I now have just the best consultant even though I’m still struggling he’s doing his best and I trust him. Maybe seeing your MP might be a plan ?
The e-referral systems are now in such a mess that our GP surgery has a dedicated phone number just for people with referral problems.
And as an academic researcher in computing may I apologise on behalf of all my colleagues. The area of computing that deals with these things is systems and human computer interaction (HCI). Sadly though many of the mainly male people in computing go into it for just one thing, programming. They forget that there is a larger system around the individual software programmes that need to be taken into consideration. And they are also mainly young and healthy so never have to use NHS services and don't understand the complexity of the systems.
For example, a lot of the appointment handling software sends letters that don't have all the information on them that they should, like who the appointment is for, and which service the appointment is with. They had no concept that not only would people be dealing with more than one person (as in carers have appointments for themselves and for those they care for, as well as parents having their children) or that people might be under multiple different services and be getting appointments from different services at the same time.
I am working really hard to get my university's computing department to make HCI the most important aspect of a degree in computing, but we are fighting a losing battle. The kids just want to code.
At last an explanation and thank you as it’s so much worse when no one explains things. If only the administrator used the service they might understand the frustration. I’ve just been for a blood test cancelled twice by GP to get a text this morning saying overdue ! Honestly I replied that you cancelled it not me. With a screenshot. I’d not mind but was on the way to the appointment twice to get a text. A big sign in surgery today saying how many appointments are no show but nothing to say how many they’ve cancelled at short notice. I think it’s going to get worse too as my nurse seemed really tired and fed up.
Whatever system is used ….its users& the kids learning all need to ….understand the NHS system users are on the move..not just static….& as you say they need to understand it’s not just one to one.My last trio of appointments all had 12 figure reference numbers..but no names…but on arrival at the hospital…the receptionist’s paperwork had names…so I had traveled 27 miles only to find on arrival I was booked with the wrong surgeon..not ideal.
Good luck with that. I have been seen by 5 different hospitals in different locations, some appointments for same conditions!! Can only manage because I am still able to drive. I don't have a partner.
In future…I will call the hospital I am told I have an appointment at…& if they can’t tell me the name of the doctor they have booked me to see..I will first TRY to contact my GP & ask if they know anything about the appointment…& if they don’t I will presume it’s not worth chancing driving miles only to find it’s just another NHS mistake.
I had a similar problem when my Rheumatologist retired. He was the only one in our hospital at the time. I looked on the Bupa/ Nuffield websites for rheumatologists who worked both privately and on the NHS, in a hospital closest to my town. I chose one and had my initial appointment privately and asked him to put me on his NHS clinic at that hospital. £90 for the first appointment was worth it knowing I could see the consultant I wanted.
I feel your frustration. I haven't experienced this one, but my goodness the NHS do a good line in coming up with new ways to be incompetent in regard to treatment of chronic illnesses. Sorry I can't be of help, but I'm right there with you in feeling frustrated with the system. I'd probably camp out at the hospital and refuse to leave without a proper appointment.
I have used e consult twice this year and have been unimpressed by it. when I arrived at the surgery it was clear that on either occasion the GPS had barely even glanced at what I had written. I thought that the idea was to save them time at appointments.
This has just happened to me, didn't cancel the original hospital where I had already been seen so am off to another hospital much further away. Will have to talk to my GP and find out what is happening. Am assuming that as this referral was from my GP asking for the original referral to be opened again, it's gone into the open list where it doesn't show that you've already been seen. Good luck.
Sorry to hear this. Do you have any community hospitals that the consultants may work out from. My first appointment was at the main hospital 25 minutes away then the rest have been at my local community hospital five minutes away.
I sympathise. That is a ridiculous situation. At a time when were told NHS resources are stretched to the max, last thing we need is missed and incorrect appointments due to 'system errors'.And there being nobody who can actually sort it out for you is even more worrying. Seb.
Bottom line…..The person who signed off on this system…… probably has no idea it is making an already failing system 10 times worse- and being on a six figure salary probably doesn’t care.
The receptionist who had to tell me the doctor I was expecting to see was not in the hospital, was a very competent woman, who could actually do nothing except apologise…….to 90% of patients that day, & probably her reports of what was happening….end up in the bin.
Until somebody who understands what is needed gets the top job…,unfortunately things will continue as they are!
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Benepali, asthma& flu -gasp !!!!!!!!
New prescription
Anyone a patient at Royal National Hospital For Rheumatic Diseases in Bath?
