"Checks should be made before actual appointment"

In January 2013 my GP referred me to a Urology and Spinal clinic. The urology appointment was made quickly and I was seen at the clinic in Telford in March. By April, I had heard nothing about the appointment to the spinal clinic and, at a visit to my GP for a different reason, I asked how long I could be expected to wait before being contacted.

I understand that a request was then made for the procedure to be expedited.

Within a week I was offered an appointment in late June at the Spinal clinic at RJAH Hospital.

On being seen at the clinic, I gathered that I should have, by then, had an MRI scan, but this had not been possible in as Telford does not allow a GP to request such a scan. Consequently, I had to make an appointment for an MRI scan at Oswestry and will have a review in the Spinal Clinic after that for a meaningful conversation on my condition and possible treatment.

It would seem to me that it would be useful if postcodes throughout an area code are meaningful, and that checks might be made before an actual appointment after that, checks might be made before an actual appointment that requested tests or procedures.

Had either of these procedures been applied then my first consultation might have been more productive, and 30 minutes of a busy consultants time would not have been wasted.