NHS 18 week s "pledge"
Discussion
At the beginning of last year I was referred to my local hospital with knee problems. The referral was some time in January and my surgery was in September. When I went to see the surgeon prior to surgery a comment was made along the lines that they had 18 weeks from that date (May) to operate, which they did meet. I now find that my previous surgery was more like 36 weeks according to this NHS 18 weeks site, from date of hospital referral to surgery.
However I now have (what I believe to be) the same problems (lump of ?? floating around inside my knee) and am less than pleased. A friend suggested googling for NHS 18 weeks, and there is a whole site dedicated to this pledge www.18weeks.nhs.uk
Today I have been back to see them regarding my new/same issues, and mentioned this 18 week thing. Receptionist "knows nothing", Doc "knows nothing" so they got someone for me to explain. I had this leaflet with me --> http://www.18weeks.nhs.uk/Asset.ashx?path=/EWCL_pa...
and page 5 seems quite clear in how it should work. I self referred on Dec 31st 09, and today was told the MRI wait is about 6 weeks. I asked this person in the know if I was likely to be operated on by the 18 week deadline, ie May 6th, and was told "as you need an MRI scan the 18 weeks doesnt count."
On pg7 of the pdf leaflet it says "there are times when you cannot begin treatment within 18 weeks, such as" "when your condition requires an extended period of testing and observation before a diagnosis can be made"
Does anyone know if an MRI scan can be classed as "an extended period of testing" as they are claiming? I really don't think it does, but i'd love some opinion.
However I now have (what I believe to be) the same problems (lump of ?? floating around inside my knee) and am less than pleased. A friend suggested googling for NHS 18 weeks, and there is a whole site dedicated to this pledge www.18weeks.nhs.uk
Today I have been back to see them regarding my new/same issues, and mentioned this 18 week thing. Receptionist "knows nothing", Doc "knows nothing" so they got someone for me to explain. I had this leaflet with me --> http://www.18weeks.nhs.uk/Asset.ashx?path=/EWCL_pa...
and page 5 seems quite clear in how it should work. I self referred on Dec 31st 09, and today was told the MRI wait is about 6 weeks. I asked this person in the know if I was likely to be operated on by the 18 week deadline, ie May 6th, and was told "as you need an MRI scan the 18 weeks doesnt count."
On pg7 of the pdf leaflet it says "there are times when you cannot begin treatment within 18 weeks, such as" "when your condition requires an extended period of testing and observation before a diagnosis can be made"
Does anyone know if an MRI scan can be classed as "an extended period of testing" as they are claiming? I really don't think it does, but i'd love some opinion.
Edited by J500ANT on Friday 12th February 10:58
I'm afraid the "18 week" target is, as the picture above shows, a massive fudge on the part of the NHS.
Sad really as they didn't want it foisted on them by the politicians in the first place, and the politicians couldn't run the NHS if it had a 12inch sized flashing button on the top of it saying "Run"
you are a pawn on the great NHS-chess board, your poorly knee is an irritation to the nice people trying to make the hospitals and GP surgeries run smoothly.
None of this is helping you is it?
I apologise.
Edited by The_Doc on Friday 12th February 15:07
My wife is a radiographer. Her hospital operated in the policy that MRI/CT (which are NOT treatment) fell within the 18 week wait.
There are penalities for trusts which do not comply with the 18 week target.
I am very surprised that your surgery was 9 months after referral esp. as it involves loss of revenue.
There are penalities for trusts which do not comply with the 18 week target.
I am very surprised that your surgery was 9 months after referral esp. as it involves loss of revenue.
sinizter said:
Just checked. MRI/CT are clock freezes. The time from requesting one of them, to them actually being done, does not count for the 18 weeks.
Sorry to dig this back up again, but does this mean that the clock restarts on the day of the MRI scan, or the next appointment with the surgeon to discuss MRI results?J500ANT said:
sinizter said:
Just checked. MRI/CT are clock freezes. The time from requesting one of them, to them actually being done, does not count for the 18 weeks.
Sorry to dig this back up again, but does this mean that the clock restarts on the day of the MRI scan, or the next appointment with the surgeon to discuss MRI results?I was pretty sure the 18 week wait thing was you were admitted to hospital the first time. i.e if you go and see a consultant the MRI and Op must be done within 18 weeks.
I emailed a surgeon at my local hospital who told me to expect to wait 34 weeks!
If you look at the NHS Choices website (think thats what its called) you can opt to go ot other hospitals - altho prob a bit late for you now
I emailed a surgeon at my local hospital who told me to expect to wait 34 weeks!
If you look at the NHS Choices website (think thats what its called) you can opt to go ot other hospitals - altho prob a bit late for you now
My update is that they've referred me for surgery. I ring the waiting list coordinator who tells me that i'll be getting surgery in August.
So I then ask her about the 18 week thing. She says she's never heard of it, then she says she has heard about it but it starts when they decide what they're doing. So I tell her the NHS 18 week site clearly states that it starts at first visit to GP or self referral.
I then get "we're allowed to miss a percentage of targets". So I go back with "funny how this year you're missing the same target with the same person". No reply. Then she said she's passing my file to the waiting list manager.
Tomorrow i'm going to ring her and read her the riot act.
So I then ask her about the 18 week thing. She says she's never heard of it, then she says she has heard about it but it starts when they decide what they're doing. So I tell her the NHS 18 week site clearly states that it starts at first visit to GP or self referral.
I then get "we're allowed to miss a percentage of targets". So I go back with "funny how this year you're missing the same target with the same person". No reply. Then she said she's passing my file to the waiting list manager.
Tomorrow i'm going to ring her and read her the riot act.
I had a stupid thing with this
basically i went to see surgeon in October. he tells me he can fit me in end of january roughly.
so i think ok, i will plan my life but keep myself free for the last 3 weeks in january onwards (not including the first week as he said routine surgery doesn;t happen then)
i get a cal lfor mthe hospital saying we can put you on the waiting list for immediate ops should one become available, so i say i don;t wnat anything before the 6th Jan assuming that because i am unlikely to get it before then it doesnt matter and i will be available in the period the surgeon suggested i would get pencilled in for. i was happy to wait til end of jan anyway rather than take a more immediate cancellation
anyway, jan comes and go. i call up the hospital. oh, your 18 weeks stopped because you told us you didn;t wnat an op until jan 6th so the time starts from then and was paused between oct and jan,
i get a bit annoyed and say they didnt make that clear, she talked to the surgeon and i eventually got booked in for mid march.
basically i went to see surgeon in October. he tells me he can fit me in end of january roughly.
so i think ok, i will plan my life but keep myself free for the last 3 weeks in january onwards (not including the first week as he said routine surgery doesn;t happen then)
i get a cal lfor mthe hospital saying we can put you on the waiting list for immediate ops should one become available, so i say i don;t wnat anything before the 6th Jan assuming that because i am unlikely to get it before then it doesnt matter and i will be available in the period the surgeon suggested i would get pencilled in for. i was happy to wait til end of jan anyway rather than take a more immediate cancellation
anyway, jan comes and go. i call up the hospital. oh, your 18 weeks stopped because you told us you didn;t wnat an op until jan 6th so the time starts from then and was paused between oct and jan,
i get a bit annoyed and say they didnt make that clear, she talked to the surgeon and i eventually got booked in for mid march.
J500ANT said:
I'm now going private but on the NHS, 26th May. Amazing what happens when you shout isn't it?
I'm increasingly involved with the NHS on behalf of 3 elderly relatives and we started off just letting things take their course, which generally very slowly led nowhere. I thought that's just how the NHS was.A youngish Indian lady doctor who had worked in the US told me to ring up people and shout at them. This goes against the grain a bit in the State run NHS (particularly with the staff) but to my amazement it works!
I know there's a huge amount of hassle about how many "managers" there are in the NHS, but maybe the problem is that there aren't enough? They're so dis-organised it's amazing that anything works at all - as far as organising treatment is concerned they literally seem have no idea what they're doing.
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