"my appointment could not be made"

I thought this was supposed to be a "one stop shop" to give you your hospital appointment once the GP had sent them a letter. This was not my experience.

I received a letter from them with a reference number. I phoned them after 3 working days from my GP visit as requested. The call handler said she would have to speak to a GP they had on hand to consult and would call back later.

When the call handler phoned back, she said that they could not make the appointment for me, and that they would fax my information direct to the consultant’s secretary who would get in touch. She didn't explain the reason for this.

Why not just say they are unsure what to do? It just seems really stupid to me to have to contact a referral team to them be told they cannot refer me (and not give me a reason). Why don't they tell the GPs not to refer certain cases? If there then has to be a delay to wait till you ring, then they have to refer it somewhere else.