How long to hear back from a hospital referral?

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sg295

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Type 1
Hi all,

GP referred me to a different hospital (by choice) about a week ago.

Just wondered if anyone knows how long it may take to hear anything?

Also how I might hear eg letter in the post or some other method?

Thank you 🙂
 
It probably varies from area to area. The first thing to check is whether the referral letter has actually been done and sent off from your surgery. If you have access to your notes online, this often appears in 'Documents' . Also, I initially got a letter from the hospital, but they sent an electronic copy to my GP, which appeared on my notes earlier than the Postie delivered the snail mail copy to me. My area now sends me a text to say I can look up a letter from the hospital on line, but I think that only started after I'd had my first consultation, and signed up to say I’d go paperless.
 
Hi,

Thanks for your message.

Yes I do have access to my records online and I can see that the gp wrote up (and presumably sent) the letter about a week ago.

I can’t see a response from the hospital on there yet so I presume they have not got round to it yet.

I presume a response will appear on my records as it did last time, although as this is a different hospital perhaps not. Or I guess the other option is that I do receive something in the post but haven’t yet.

Either way I guess I’ll just keep an eye on my records and the post for any updates.

Thank you 🙂
 
It will vary like everything else. I am suprised you can see your referral letters on your electric records. My Retinal Screening Appointment does not even show up on the app. Despite having 2 texts reminders in the last 2 days marked NHS.
 
grovesy said:
It will vary like everything else. I am suprised you can see your referral letters on your electric records. My Retinal Screening Appointment does not even show up on the app. Despite having 2 texts reminders in the last 2 days marked NHS.
Click to expand...
Things like my retinal screening appointments etc don’t show up, but the results do, because they send the GP a copy of the results letter that I get. Anything where the GP has communicated directly with the hospital do appear on my notes, and vice versa, if the hospital reply to the GP saying 'Yes, we will see this person in clinic' (but not for just general appointment dates).
 
Unfortunately Diabetes clinics are under a lot of pressure of work due to Covid and since your referral is probably not considered urgent with your control being very good, it may take months rather than weeks to get an appointment I'm afraid and I would expect it to come through in the form of a letter in the post. Hoping I am wrong but I did think when you said that you had asked for a referral to a different hospital, in the current climate, that might cause a delay.
That said, I inherited pessimism from my Dad (along with many good traits) and an anticipation of worst case scenarios, so hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised and a letter will arrive soon.
 
rebrascora said:
Unfortunately Diabetes clinics are under a lot of pressure of work due to Covid and since your referral is probably not considered urgent with your control being very good, it may take months rather than weeks to get an appointment I'm afraid and I would expect it to come through in the form of a letter in the post. Hoping I am wrong but I did think when you said that you had asked for a referral to a different hospital, in the current climate, that might cause a delay.
That said, I inherited pessimism from my Dad (along with many good traits) and an anticipation of worst case scenarios, so hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised and a letter will arrive soon.
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Hi,

I appreciate the honesty so thank you for that, saves me getting hopes up too much or wondering why I haven’t heard back!

Hopefully will be sooner but in all honesty, I’m just grateful for the move, even if it takes a while. I appreciate I’m not an urgent case and it might take longer because of that but I think it’ll be worth the wait.

I will keep my eyes out for a letter 🙂
 
grovesy said:
It will vary like everything else. I am suprised you can see your referral letters on your electric records. My Retinal Screening Appointment does not even show up on the app. Despite having 2 texts reminders in the last 2 days marked NHS.
Click to expand...
Ah ok that’s interesting, I can see any letters that are written about me on my records. Whether it’s by my gp, hospital, eye screenings or anything else.
 
sg295 said:
Hi all,

GP referred me to a different hospital (by choice) about a week ago.

Just wondered if anyone knows how long it may take to hear anything?

Also how I might hear eg letter in the post or some other method?

Thank you 🙂
Click to expand...
It wont be quick you could be talking a couple of months unless GP marked it as urgent.
 
grovesy said:
It will vary like everything else. I am suprised you can see your referral letters on your electric records. My Retinal Screening Appointment does not even show up on the app. Despite having 2 texts reminders in the last 2 days marked NHS.
Click to expand...
The reason being is that they are not referrals as such from your GP. So not seeing them is normal 🙂 The results will show plus if you need a referral to the hospital.
 
We don't get anything from or to the hospital showing on the NHS App. Hence having had my blood test for my Hospital D clinic appt in about 10 days from now, I won't know any of the results of those tests until I go to the clinic. Only those tests which the GP surgery instigates appear on the App.

What's the process for accessing your hospital results ?
 
sg295 said:
Hi all,

GP referred me to a different hospital (by choice) about a week ago.

Just wondered if anyone knows how long it may take to hear anything?

Also how I might hear eg letter in the post or some other method?

Thank you 🙂
Click to expand...
It's just a thought, but you can ring the centre concerned the reception staff will be able to see when you are likely to be seen.
 
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