"Bullied+trying to reject my referral...."

What I liked

7 months ago I started having pain on my ears and the feeling of blockage. A part of the incomodity, I need the ears for my work.

After 3 months of my GP giving me antibiotics or other treatments because she couldn't be bothered to have a decent check on me, I was sent to do a hearing test, that my GP told me it was mandatory before I could be referred to ENT. It didn't matter I said my hearing was fine. They had to send me to do this test on a private centre, wasting NHS/taxpayers money. My hearing was fine. On that I had wasted a month.

Then I was finally referred to ENT, and they send me a letter saying they aknowledge my referral, but they wouldn't put down for an appointment, as they're waiting list was massive.

As I have the luck of being Spanish and spending my holidays there, I booked an appointment for an ENT specialist there on Christmas. The specialist told me there was nothing wrong with my ears and immediately made a maxillo-facial specialist visit me. This last one said I had a very serious case of TMJ, so I really needed physiotherapy to sort it out.

Back to UK, I went to my GP explaining all what I was told. As I hadn't gone through the UK system, I had to be referred to a maxillo-facial specialist here to have a diagnostic in UK.

7 months of pain and difficulty to do my work properly (I imagine I would be further away if I had not gone trough another health system), here is where Guy's and St Thomas Hospital comes.

What could be improved

My GP referred me to this hospital to visit the maxillo-facial specialist on the 'book and choose' pathway.

I did call them to book an appointment. As the girl on the phone was enable to log onto the computer, she just wrote my name down. At the end she told me it would take around 13 weeks to get an appointment (from the day I would be given that appointment, that means they are faking their waiting, because to actually get that appointment it takes some more weeks). Basically, if all would work fine, it would mean it's taken the NHS 10 months -nearly a year- to diagnose me, for not such a rare condition. That only counting being diagnose, not treated for it.

Ok... as I didn't have any other option, I accepted it.

Two days later, I received a call from a very aggressive/bully woman trying to make me give up my appointment with them (and not sum up on their waiting list I imagine). She was agressively trying to make me get an appointment with my dentist instead!

As she was not even a doctor, I told her I had been referred there by my GP because my doctor thought I should be seen by the specialist.

Basically it ended she saying the specialist would look at my case and decide if to give me an appointment or not. So, I'm not only not in their fake 13 weeks waiting list but also I may have to start again going to my GP and do what??

It is simply ridiculous. I know my problem. I simply want to be treated.

But basically, my conclusions of this departement/NHS in general: take actions against bully staff, take serious and real actions to cut down the waiting lists, if a patient is referred to you, you simply have to take them.