Patients Choice for treatment

[jamesnan]

What is the current situation regarding choosing where to go for treatment; I am waiting for day surgery and still have a very long wait, roughly 10 months after already waiting 8 months. Can I ask to go to a different clinic/hospital and what is the legal requirement for the NHS waiting time?

[bednobs]

no legal requiremnet i'm afraid

[jamesnan]

So what happened to the short waiting times that the government are always talking about - so many weeks from consultation to treatment?

[bednobs]

18 weeks. There is no legal requirement for it to happen, and the target it 90% i think

[woofgang]

Go to your PCt's pals department (Patient advice and Liaison) and ask for advice there.

[carmalee]

I don't know about legal requirements for waiting time but I've just been through the NHS system for an op. All the way through my GP discussed my options and made suggestions which I was at liberty to follow or not. In the end I declined certain treatment and requested to be referred to a specific hospital - a private hospital which also deals with NHS patients - it's a centre of excellence for my condition (orthopaedic surgery) - I was examined tand had further mri scans there and was operated on last Thursday. I've no complaints whatsoever with the treatment I received. I was totally involved in all decisions from the word go.

[bednobs]

ps the conservatives are getting rid of the 18 weeks pathway

[rowanwitch]

The plan is to replace the pathway with consultant led service reverting to clinical priorities... I'm guessing the waiting time indicates your surgery is considered non urgent What are you waiting for... only some hospitals will use waiting list initiatives try writing to the complaints team or to the trust chief exec asking for an explanation for the delay sometimes that gets things moving

[jamesnan]

I am waiting for removal of a large Morton's neuroma, but the problem is exacerbated by the fact that I also have rheumatoid arthritis in the big toe joints of the same foot, so walking is painful, and this in turn is causing me to walk twisted which means constant backache. It may seem non-urgent to some but to me the sooner the better!!

[Sqad]

<<<<The plan is to replace the pathway with consultant led service reverting to clinical priorities... >>>

Could someone translate that for me?

[jamesnan]

Thank you Sqad, because I found that difficult to understand as well

[Sqad]

jamesnan.....LOL.....sounds impressive though.

[bednobs]

it means that the iller you are, the quicker you willbe seen. Things deemed non-urgent by the consultant will wait longer

[jamesnan]

My doctor is contacting the hospital to see if I can be moved up the list from my 87th present place, so that the surgery can be carried out a bit sooner. I certainly hope so but since it appears that surgery only takes place on a Tuesday, I will keep my fingers and toes crossed.

[bednobs]

"I will keep my fingers and toes crossed"
well you would if you could!! :)

[jamesnan]

I realised after I had posted! fingers crossed at least and toes on the left foot.

[Sqad]

bednobs.........so what is new?

The consultant would meet the junior staff, pick the urgent cases from the diary (PC now), the juniors would pick what they wanted to do, the cases that were marked "expedite " were done.........easy?

<<<<The plan is to replace the pathway with consultant led service reverting to clinical priorities... >>>
All that is just administrative bullsh1t.

[bednobs]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13801051

[jamesnan]

Very interesting reading Bednobs,I live in Essex and I was referred to see a podiatrist at the end of March, and my appointment to see him was at the end of October. I then had a scan, and again waited to see him till January. I was told then that the waiting list for day surgery was about a year but in actual fact the hospital have told me that it is more like 18 months. Luckily he suspected what was wrong and put me on the waiting list in October, otherwise I would have had to wait another 3 months as well.
It appears that other areas of the country are referred, seen and treated within 3 months, so the whole system seems very unfair and is definitly a postcode lottery

[bednobs]

"It also comes after the government relaxed the rules governing waiting times. Under Labour it was an official target, performance managed by the Department of Health.
However, soon after gaining power the coalition government announced it would no longer have it as a target"

so it's not actually a target any more, you wouldn't be able to use it to try and get it done quicker