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E.n.t .. 9 Months For An Appointment ?

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alavahalf | 14:54 Mon 25th Nov 2019 | Body & Soul
23 Answers
This is now way beyond a joke .. my wife knows that she has an ear infection.
It is not the first time, it is quite a regular event. She has worn two hearing aids since childhood.
The normal procedure is go to the GP and have them write to the consultant, who in turn sends her an appointment date. In the past it is usually a few weeks. In the mean time she struggles to hear, gets regular migraines and constantly needs to lie down in a dark room, it really has a bad effect on her daily life.
In the last hour, received an appointment with a consultant ..
for August 2020 ! .. that's 9 months away !

The first port of call will be the GP as soon as possible, hoping that they can write once more and emphasize how urgent the situation is. The quality of service we have received from the NHS in the past is really good .. but dear oh dear, 9 months for an appointment, where will it all end ?
You wouldn't want to be ill would you !
The other option is we go and plant ourselves in A&E and just sit it out !
Just wondering if a referral from an A&E Doctor would speed up the visit to the consultant ?
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Check to see if there are shorter waiting lists at other hospitals in your area. (Your GP can change your referral if there are). To do so, go here https://www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/Hospital/LocationSearch/7/Hospitals and enter your postcode. On the next page, click on the name of your local hospital. Then click on 'Departments and services'. Click on...
15:16 Mon 25th Nov 2019
Check to see if there are shorter waiting lists at other hospitals in your area. (Your GP can change your referral if there are).

To do so, go here
https://www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/Hospital/LocationSearch/7/Hospitals
and enter your postcode.
On the next page, click on the name of your local hospital.
Then click on 'Departments and services'.
Click on 'Ear, Nose and Throat'.
Click in the orange box labelled 'Compare waiting times . . . '

ENT waiting times are shown as 'Up to 17 weeks for 9/10 patients' for most of the hospitals around here.

At least your wife has got a date though. I've been on the waiting list for a prostate operation for nearly 10 months (having been told my case is marked as 'urgent' on the system), with no indication of a date for it yet.

I doubt that a referral from an A&E doc would speed things up for your wife. I ended up on the waiting list for my op after ignoring my prostate problem for far too long and ending up with an emergency admission into hospital at the end of January. So my referral was actually from a hospital consultant, rather than from my GP. (The hospital sorted out my immediate problems after a 5-night stay but I didn't end up any further along the waiting list to get the underlying cause of my difficulties dealt with).
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Thanks for that Chris .. totaly forgetting about NHS choices. I used that process to get my knee done in a local Private Hospital.
We will make an appointment with her GP and request that they write to an alternative consultant in another hospital. After all if it is a comparable price you can go anywhwere they will accept you .. even private!
Cant believe that option went out of my head. I think it after a whole lifetime of being at the mercy of 'those that know' and just accepting what is being offered .. you eventually become immune to thinking there is another way of doing things.
Here we go again .. the last time I tried to get an appointment with our GP, I was offered an appt. in 8 weeks time .. Thanks again !
Terrible state for a national health service to get in.
"Just wondering if a referral from an A&E Doctor would speed up the visit to the consultant ?"

No it wouldn't and it shouldn't.

Your situation is one that could be sorted quickly, by any competent GP.
Sorry to hear about your problems, that must be awful, and for Chris. However it's not all as bad as that everywhere. It was decided on 18th Nov at Guy's Hospital that I would be operated on either end Dec or early Jan unless there is a cancellation before then. I'm OK with that as after what I've read and seen in the media I thought it would be longer.
Question Author
Any GP that has seen inside my wifes ears always does the same thing and passes her on to those that know.
Only last week she was having her hearing aid levels altered. The lady who was doing the adjustment asked if she could have a look inside the ears to see if she could identify any infection. She sat bolt upright in her chair after a quick look and said .. " you have had surgery and much of your ear is .. is " . My wife suggested that the word she was looking for was 'missing'. My wife then went on to tell her how and why the ears had been operated on.
The quick version is as a child she had contracted german measles and an infection developed in one ear. She attended a local hospital where they would carry out the procedure. Unfortunately the operation was carried out on ... the wrong ear.
This was soon followed by an op on the other ear, so now unfortunately she has 2 bads ears, which have given her a whole lifetime of problems.

Squad .. what is word used to describe an incident such as this .. when a surgeon operates on the wrong limb, ear, arm etc. . Some years ago I heard an interview on the radio when someone was talking of these incedents, but I cant remember the word he used.
? malpractice.....alava.
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No .. that wasn't it. It was a description of something that rarely happen in a theatre, but it can't be entirely ruled out !
The act of operating on the wrong body part.
It will come to me, I'll be awake all night now thinking about it ?
WSS? Wrong site surgery??
In Scandinavia it would be 'Sodslorr.'
A cockup?
Question Author
Got it .. sorry it was more than one word ...

.. 'Wrong Site' surgery .. describes it !

Google .. NHS Never Events .. an interesting read.
Question Author
Must remember to use that refresh button .. thanks everyone !
i went for hearing test in january.had sinus drops for 2 months,went back no improvement,further tests hearing aid needed.Had mould dome in june.Date to be fitted is 2nd december.Almost 12 months and hearing has deteriated since.There is no way to speed things up.Glad only one more week now
Seems I'm the only one satisfied with their NHS treatment then. Sorry to hear that but most people I know who have had cause to use the NHS in this area are happy with it. We are lucky it seems. Of course that could change for me if my op doesn't happen by mid Jan.
Having read through this it makes our local hospital look like shining example of NHS (which I am sure it isn't). In April husband saw GP on Tuesday, he wanted him to have Xray and see ENT specialist. He went for Xray Friday early pm, received phone call late pm asking him to attend ENT for early appt Monday Morning. It was all routine, no need for fast tracking.
You really shouldn't have to but if you can £100 - £150 consider paying the same consultant for a private consultation. Surprising how quickly you can get treatment on the NHS by doing this
"iatrogenic illness" generally mens "illness caused by doctors"; intriguing that such a phrase exists.
I think the word I would use is "actionable"...

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