NHS Waiting Times

Randomface74 · 9 May 2011 at 10:21

2 months ago my GP said "you need a hearing test immediately".
So he referred me...

Today I got a letter saying "you can book an appointment now".
So I booked the earliest available appointment.

IN AUGUST

(anyone else had similar problems / is this normal?)

Danfoss2011 · 9 May 2011 at 10:24

Yep. Got a latter saying im due an op and thats in 18 weeks time. I had to conferm i want it yet i have no idea whats being done. I get a letter 6 weeks before the op to then go see the surgon doing it and find out whats going on.

Before that had Woodsprings direct service for the same as ya self but to meet the consaultent.

NHS = fail

Kerplunk · 9 May 2011 at 10:25

Yep thats normal, I had something similar, had to wait like 3 months or something stupid

Cosimo · 9 May 2011 at 10:29

It's on par for the course. It has to be fairly "serious" to be seen any earlier.

MuttsNutts · 9 May 2011 at 10:56

Dont get me started..... LOL Back in Sept 2008 I started with Lower back pain twinges etc nothing real bad just delt with it and got on with life, But while at the Docs a few weeks later for a Flu Jab I just mentioned it,

I gave a Urine & Blood sample and was told test results would be a week or two, Got a call 2 weeks later to say I had to go to see the doctor to discuss the results, went back to docs and was given antibiotics for a Kidney infection and told to drink pleanty of water. All fine and dandy.... Now it's mid Nov and I started with cripling lower back pain again so severe it put me to the floor I was rolling around in agony, this came and went in pulses and lasted around 3 hours before my misses drove me up to not A & E (As they had just recently shut that dept down at my local hospital Thanks Mr Blair at the time) but the Urgent Care Centre/ Minor injury clinic waited 2 hours in there before i was seen.

Drugged up with pain relief and was discharged with a referal to the urology dept had to wait 6 weeks for an appointment in the mean time suffering with these agonising pains daily popping god knows how many strong pain killers, 6 weeks came and went to see the doc, I was told suspected Kidney stones, Xrays & Ultra sound scans I was given.

They found a 9mm stone in my tube from the kidney to the bladder Note the tube is only normally 5mm wide and a collection stones stuck in my kidney the bigest was 108mm, I was told I needed an Opp to get these out as most of them are two big to come out on there own and as it has been 2 months or so they were not going to come out,
This was Jan 2009, I had to wait 6 months for the Opp on the NHS being closley monitoerd I had to go back to the hospital every 2 weeks to check progress until my Opp. July came and i was in had the opp and out in 3 days, You have not felt pain like it people no surgery was done it was Keyhole and the only way in was the same place you pee out off and for a Man that hurts....

Ok long story but from Sept 2008 with orginal problem till July 2009 for the fix, that's the NHS for you.

Greg0986 · 9 May 2011 at 11:00

I work for my local medical center and this happens all the time.

It takes time for the letters to get dictated by the GP's and then they have to be typed up by me and many other people in the office and then they have to be sent of and then they have to be scanned etc. Most of the time it is to do with the actual practice but the majority are OK.

I have put forward some issues to my boss about efficiency and we are doing things about it but it is taking time.

wo0kie · 9 May 2011 at 11:07

MuttsNutts said:
Dont get me started.....

did you get to keep the stones?

Mr Jack · 9 May 2011 at 11:11

If you really want a hearing test fast, you can get them done at SpecSavers for not a lot of money; I suspect other highstreet providers also have such services.

MuttsNutts · 9 May 2011 at 11:21

wo0kie said:
did you get to keep the stones?

No I was showed them in a little pot after the opp, the bigger one's had been broken up inside me to get them out, the whole one's where all jaggerd and sharp edges, Like crystals you know like the asteriod in Amergeddon LOL

The only funny thing I have in memory of this event in my life was the hit i was with the nurses on the ward in hospital they all talked about me being some sort of Stud because Apparntly I made a pass at the HOT female surgon while they where putting my under and again when they woke me up and kept persiting for an answer from her I was saying alsorts of pick up lines.... All to this day i can not remmeber any of this but the Nurses on the ward loved me for it and the rumors spread..... LOL

Admiral Huddy · 9 May 2011 at 11:25

I have to say, after a 2 month wait for something, I was dealt with better than on Private, which for me, they seemed a little too knife happy. it's getting into the system that appears to be the problem.. not once you're in.

Mr Jack · 9 May 2011 at 11:26

Admiral Huddy said:
I have to say, after a 2 month wait for something, I was dealt with better than on Private, which for me, they seemed a little too knife happy. it's getting into the system that appears to be the problem.. not once you're in.

Yeah, I would never go private again.

meghatronic · 9 May 2011 at 11:29

Admiral Huddy said:
it's getting into the system that appears to be the problem.. not once you're in.

This.

The NHS does need a shake-up. It's just no one is 100% sure how to do it....

Mr Jack · 9 May 2011 at 11:32

meghatronic said:
The NHS does need a shake-up. It's just no one is 100% sure how to do it....

I don't think it's at all clear that the NHS needs a "shake-up"; I'd argue that one of the major problems the NHS has faced is the constant tampering. I suspect what it needs rather than a "shake-up" is a decent period of stability in which small incremental improvements can be tried and implemented.

Vonhelmet · 9 May 2011 at 12:43

It's normal.

Pay for private if you're in a hurry...

VeNT · 9 May 2011 at 12:59

Mr Jack said:
I don't think it's at all clear that the NHS needs a "shake-up"; I'd argue that one of the major problems the NHS has faced is the constant tampering. I suspect what it needs rather than a "shake-up" is a decent period of stability in which small incremental improvements can be tried and implemented.

this.
really this whole 18 week thing is BS.
if we didn't have to jump from piller to post all the time chasing deadlines and targets we could just get on with things and get people seen to rather than spending time talking about it!

Efour · 9 May 2011 at 13:15

vonhelmet said:
It's normal.

Pay for private if you're in a hurry...

pretty much exactly what he said !

britboy4321 · 9 May 2011 at 13:24

Tories = lower taxes and worse NHS
Labour = higher taxes and better NHS

The voters voted - sorry matey .. you have to wait

Goberpiles316 · 9 May 2011 at 13:47

Referred for Dental treatment last October and got my date in the post last week for November. Daughter waited over a year and had to get referred to a private hospital paid for by NHS as it took so long.

LLBDTiberio · 9 May 2011 at 13:57

I live in Scotland and had to have a Spirometry done, waited a total of 2 weeks after I received the letter, total waiting time from the Doctor sending of the info the NHS to me having the test done was 3 weeks. Guess the SNP is doing something right up here

.

Vonhelmet · 9 May 2011 at 14:01

LLBDTiberio said:
I live in Scotland and had to have a Spirometry done, waited a total of 2 weeks after I received the letter, total waiting time from the Doctor sending of the info the NHS to me having the test done was 3 weeks. Guess the SNP is doing something right up here .

Yep, they're taking all our money and doing things however they want.

No prescriptions charges? Fine, just pass it on to the rest of the UK!

I'm curious to see how that sort of half-measure would work under Scottish independence...