"ENT Outpatient waiting times"

Ki I'm awaiting an urgent ENT appointment which was received by ENT beginning of Sep. I then received a letter this week stating 'ENT have received a request for an appointment'. 'If your condition gets worse make an appointment with your GP'.

Don't you think there's a clinical reason for a referral being sent as urgent? How much worse & how many more visits does one have to make to their GP. Surely pain relief not working is bad enough with the pain increasing after a year of suffering.

I was then told my referral hasn't even been seen/graded by a consultant yet (they've had it a week). I asked what the process was, i.e. maximum timescale for this and they didn't know. They also said they don't know which consultant has it. I'm not sure how any business would run like this let alone a hospital.

I'm trying to avoid going to A+E with this as i know how stretched they are. I expected to be seen within the next week, not receive a pointless letter.

I also explained this and the urgency to PALS who advised me urgent appointments are wait for it, within 8 weeks & to contact appointments in a couple of weeks! Someone's missing the point!

So to everyone who really needs an urgent appointment, you may as well go to A+E.