Back in June i had a appointment with my Neuro, he said he would send me for a 'dat scan' which i had in July and that he would see me again for my next appointment 'within 3 months'.
Obviously time is marching on now from June and i have heard nothing of my next appointment for my results, I called my Neuro's secretary a Week after the scan, you get a answer fone too leave a message which isn't Ideal and eventually a call back.
I asked her "do i make a follow on appointment or will the Neuro make that appointment for me"?.
She said "the Neuro will".
When i had my 'dat scan' the man carrying out the scan made the point of telling me "the results would be with my consultant the following day",
My neuro's secretary said (a week on) "that they hadn't recieved the results yet".
This leads me too Question Who has been Honest and Who has not !!.
I have heard Nothing and fear I will hear nothing about a appointment.
Should i put my Trust in Waiting on the Post ?? or Hassle the secretary for some Honesty and a appointment??.
Your thoughts and experiences of time scales with thanks.
I have always thought that one should be patient and reasonable, wait one's turn, it doesn't cost to be polite etc. I now feel that we should scream and shriek and howl on a daily basis. I was diagnosed in London and was seen every 6 months. I moved to Wiltshire 2 and half yrs ago and have seen the neuro twice and have no further appointment. The situation is the same with glaucoma. Where are you? What is your GP like? Is it possible to get the GP to get the results to give to you? That is probably an official no-no, but with nudges and winks on the local grapevine it might work.
I have waited, Queued, Sat,nodded,and answered all questions, rolled over and played ball and jumped threw hoops too their every request for a Year, poked and prodded and tested, and injected ,I have done all that has been asked of me. Just like a good NHS patient.
Perhaps that's the problem with the NHS, we do as we are expected.
I called a 0845 number this morning (appointments line) who passed me too another number (out patients line) too make a appointment because I woke up with the feeling of ''if i never called too make one then a appointment would never be made''
Who then without me finish explaining passed me onto my Neuro's ''secretary'' who never answers the Call..
I called the ''out patients'' line again and asked too be listened too before i was pushed back too the 'secretary' once again.
I explained fully i'd had a 'dat-scan' in 'JULY' and i Required a follow on appointment as originally advised by my Neuro in 'June'.
She said ''ooh i normally have too clear this with the 'secretary' (the irony) but i will try and get in the System now if you hold on'' , 'i'm not going anywhere~ i have been waiting for week's on a appointment that was never comming' i said
''ohh u were due too be seen in September'' she said ... When was someone going too tell me??
''Oh the earliest we can do is October the 1st @ 415''
If i had not called this morning it's obvious no appointment will have been made, and i would of slipped through the Net, The NHS from my experience is Do it Yourself service !!
Yeah unfortunately you do have to chase things up, its so silly and frustrating! I too feel bad pestering them or feeling like Im making a fuss but you have to do it, Ive had my initial appt with the neuro and my next appt is in 6 months!! Im calling his secretary once a week to check for cancellations, she will hate me soon! Ive been passed about from person to person to sort out appointments before, so damn annoying, it shouldnt be down to the patient so much! Maybe they are trying to see who really wants help!
The NHS seems to be from my experience thus far a 'do it yourself service' and time means nothing too them, you'd think they'd want too clear a back log of follow up appointments for test results, but instead they do everything by a script, i got a 6 week wait because the rules say so of 'we don't make appointments of less than 6 weeks in advance in case the Neuro.is on holiday'.
I would bet any money Suzy your six month wait is because your Neuro casually said off the top of his head 6 months and that stinks.
When I called his secretary she said it is just because there arent any appointments til then, I dont see how thats right though! And she said my gp should have my results but she doesnt :-(
