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How long does it take to get an appointment

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Lorraine

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi
As some of you know I have had nothing but problems since being diagnosed Nov 2006.
I made an appointment last week with the diabetes clinic that is run in the drs' surgery and the earliest they could give me was 18th August. They only run them on a Tuesday afternoon. I have tried to discuss diabetes issue with my gp but am told I need to go to the clinic. Then there is always the issue of the blood test. I am told it has to be done 2 weeks before my appointment but it never works like that because they are always booked and i have been when it was only a week before and they moaned at me and I explained I was available earlier but THEY weren't.
It just drives me mad and another good reason to get to see a consultant at the hospital where they probably have more than one clinic a week!
I am interested to know who goes to hospital and who just goes to their drs surgery like I have to and how long do you wait for appointments?
 
Sorry to hear you're having problems. I'm registered with the diabetes centre at my local hospital and get seen every six months (more like 8 months as they have too many patients though). They also do a 'drop in' for an hour every morning and an answerphone service so it's always possible to see or speak to someone. They do the blood tests when I arrive at the hospital then the weight, eye, blood pressure etc checks. By the time that's all done and I'm with the consultant the blood tests are back.
I only really go to my GP for non diabetes issues, but saying I'm diabetic usually gets me seen the next day. The one time I had a long wait to be seen at the hospital the nurse at my GPs saw me in the week instead.
I know that I'm probably exceptionally lucky in the access I have to my team as I know a lot of people have problems.
I would say, if you have the opportunity to have your care looked after by a specialist department at a hospital rather than you GP I would go for it.
 
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appointments

Hi lorraine,
My son Ben was diagnosed 8mths ago at 18mths old and he has never been near our GP in that time. I've no idea how different paediatric care is but your care sounds appaling. We are seen at the hospital by the consultant and nurse every 3 months routinely. Bens bloods are done when we arrive with results 20min later. The consultant is also happy to do phone consults as often as required which has been a big help. I would def consider working with the hospital if thats possible.
Hope things improve for you.
Ruth
 
Hi, I was diagnosed in May by a nasty GP, she was so awful and unhelpful that i phoned my surgery and asked to speak to a nurse, i was told that there was a diabetic clinic on the next day and they made me an apt.
Went to see the nurse who tld me that i will be seen every 3 months by GP and go to their clinic once a year, was given the form for a blood test and told to make apt to see GP in a month and go for blood test the week before.
Did that and followed by seeing GP the week after ( this Monday) he wants to see me in a month and has made referals for feet and diet, told me to go to my optician.

so from going from awful gp to getting seen regularly is good.

If I were you I would look at changing GP!

HTH
Julie
 
It hs only taken 3 years to get a diabetically trained nurse at our GP surgery. I get my eyes done once a year, but I had to arrange myself for my feet. There are probably loads of other things that need to be checked, but it feels like I am swimming in treacle against the tide sometimes.

A lot of it seems to depend on who your GP is and where you live. My mum and dad have a good GP and my dad gets brilliant diabetic care. My GP doesn't seem to give a **** and if I go to him with a sheet of test results because of another health and well being event I've been to, only then will he do something because he has been told what to do and hasn't had to make the decision on his own!
 
Lol...............I've just been given an appointment to see a Dietician......in......................December😱
 
I get to see the consultant every 6 months at the hospital, I see the dsn every 3 months but they have an answer machine and ring back the same day and also have a bleep if you have ketones, my local gp is diabetic so he understands anyways and they have a diabetic nurse at the surgery too but they are always fully booked by 5 past 8am so you have to be bloody quick on the speed dial, I guess here in Norwich we are pretty lucky when it comes to care
 
I had load of trouble myself it got me so down i had to wait and wait to see a DSN as some of you know , they lost my referrel 3 times and that just kept putting it further and further back i eventually saw one last month after a long struggle and it was worth the wait she had written to me monday and i havea follow up appointement in july,I would go further and say if i had been seen earlier i think that i could of been controlled diet wise and maybe not of had to go on pills but as i had no guidance nor help from any profs i think i was eating wrong.
 
Diabetes care varies widely from region to region, and even locally.

NICE publish guidelines which PCTs should follow and fully abide by before 2010, but unfortunately, a lot of them don't come anywhere near the standards set.
Personally, I've seen a number of changes over the years, mostly for the better. I have both my GP team where I am seen by a nurse every three months, and a hospital team that also see me every three months at the moment. That means I am seen by a nurse at my GPs, a consultant at the hospital and a hospital dietician every three months. Sometimes it seems like I spend most of my life in or around hospitals.
When I was first diagnosed, it took around two months to see a dietician. The last time I was refered, I was able to get seen within 3 weeks because of the way you are allowed to 'shop around'. The local dietetic team could not see me for three months, but the hospital could see me in 3 weeks.
I didn't see a hospital consultant for about the first 5 years after I was diagnosed. When I was refered back a few months ago, I was seen within a week.

Basically, if you are unhappy with the service you are getting, shop around. Ask your GP what other services are available in the area. Yoou could even go further afield if that suits you.
 
My diabetes is looked after at the local hospital, my GP looks after everything else. I get seen every 6 months at the clinic, although my July appointment got postponed until October, so I asked my GP if they would do the blood and urine tests so I didn't have to wait - I'm getting them done next week. There are 5 GPs at my surgery, but to see the one that I like I usually have to book an appointment a couple of weeks in advance (everyone likes her!). If it's an acute problem that can't wait that long I can usually get an appointment within a day, or they have an open session where you just turn up and wait, maybe an hour or possibly 2.
 
I get an appointment roughly every 6 months at the hospital, but they are almost always postponed for one reason or another. 🙄 My DSN however is very good once I get hold of her to make an appointment and I can usually see her within a fortnight at the most. (If I am really in a hurry and can take time off work I can see her quicker though.)

If I am altering insulin etc. then she is good for the first few weeks but when she start to try to keep in touch by phone, we tend to start missing each other and gets more difficult. This time I am e-mailing her, but due to the fact that the DSN's are one short at the moment, even this is not great.

Getting an appointment at the GP's is a completely different kettle of fish mind you. :(
 
I only get an annual check up with my gp. Nobody ever looks at my injection sights, which are usually bruises and of course now the lack or arse i have, which nobody is bothered about!

I have today, finally got round to sending the letter to my gp requesting that I be referred to Basingstoke Hospital. If he repiles again that my surgery offer a suitable clinic I will take it higher.
 
Lorraine said:
I only get an annual check up with my gp. Nobody ever looks at my injection sights, which are usually bruises and of course now the lack or arse i have, which nobody is bothered about!

I have today, finally got round to sending the letter to my gp requesting that I be referred to Basingstoke Hospital. If he repiles again that my surgery offer a suitable clinic I will take it higher.
Click to expand...

My understanding was that Type 1's were to be seen by a consultant.

Even then the care is fragmented, DSNs, dieticians, foot checkups, eye tests, blood tests et-al are all either arranged by the clinic, GP or in the case of feet, self referred.

Its a real mess and wastes a vast amount of time, clinic twice a year, dietician as and when I need, DSN as and when, eyes and feet once a year.

Why there can't be one clinic, either a full one which is the big annual checkup where it all happens in one day and a normal clinic where you see the consultant and DSN every sixth month I don't know.

As an aside, I have never had the 'full MOT' they talk about in the standards framework... certainly not had one doctor give the full works, and have never had my injection sites checked - perhaps for the best!

The idea of looking at your backside, if I read correctly, well, I'd have thought there would be a lot of volunteers!
 
I get seen every 6 months at the moment, but it has been yearly, or 3 monthly, it all depends whats has been going on at the time. I am happy with this and can get seen sooner if I need to I will just contact my Dr. My DSN I see at my clinic appointments usually as she does the clinic with my Dr, I can also contact her by phone if I need to.
 
Einstein said:
My understanding was that Type 1's were to be seen by a consultant.

Even then the care is fragmented, DSNs, dieticians, foot checkups, eye tests, blood tests et-al are all either arranged by the clinic, GP or in the case of feet, self referred.

Its a real mess and wastes a vast amount of time, clinic twice a year, dietician as and when I need, DSN as and when, eyes and feet once a year.

Why there can't be one clinic, either a full one which is the big annual checkup where it all happens in one day and a normal clinic where you see the consultant and DSN every sixth month I don't know.

As an aside, I have never had the 'full MOT' they talk about in the standards framework... certainly not had one doctor give the full works, and have never had my injection sites checked - perhaps for the best!

The idea of looking at your backside, if I read correctly, well, I'd have thought there would be a lot of volunteers!
Click to expand...

I have never seen a consultant. And as for my backside lol, nope, nobody is bothered by it and I keep being told the muscle might come back. i am so self conscious by it now. :(
 
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