UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

I was told I had KC in december '06. I went back to the optitian in january for another checkup and he refered me to my GP. He sent them a letter and told me to phone my GP and get an appointment with him to have my eyes tested by him and have a discussion about referring me to the hospital for contacts.

I contacted my doctor (Whom i have never had a problem with in the past - and infact haven't seen for almost 3 years!) only to be told that he was too busy and that i'd have to speak to another doctor. The other Dr. said: (his words) "I don'twant to see you as i don't think i need to, so we won't make an appointment, but i will send you a referal for an appointment at the hospital."

I still haven't heard anything about it, recieved no information that he would send me or anything.

Has anyone had this problem before? Is there another way to get a refferal to the hospital? or should I see another Doctor? Or are they all this rude and incompitent?

Any help would be great!

Sam.

Sam

Where to begin?

The optometrist who noticed something in your eye is actually in a better position than your GP to know that there is a possible problem. Your doctor, in not feeling the need to see you him (or is it her) self may only have been expressing confidence in your optometrist's skill.

So far as I know, your GP is the only gate-keeper to the consultant.

There are, however, two things that you could do. firstly you could phone your GP surgery and ask the receptionist to confirm that the referral letter has gone to the hospital and ask for the name of the consultant to whom you have been referred.

You could telephone the hospital and speak to the consultant's secretary to ask how long you might expect to wait for an appointment. You could even telephone the appointments administration and ask whether they have any cancellations (appointments first given to other patients but which the other patients have indicated that they will not be able to keep).

Actually, from my own recollection, the wait for the first consultant appointment is the longest part of this whole process.

All the best

Andrew

Ah right. Thank you.

I didn't realise it would take so long. Maybe it's just me being too worried lol. I guess i'll just have to wait and to get rid of these glasses it will definately be worth it.

I thought that the doctor would send me a letter, not the hospital. Goes to show what i know

Thanks again.

Sam.

Hi Sam
Hospitals have targets these days which they are supposed to keep to, and one of them is giving an outpatient appt within 3 months of a referral. So if you've been waiting longer than that, it's definitely worth checking. When I was first diagnosed, many years ago, I waited several months to hear from the hospital, only to find that the GP (not my current one) had forgotten to write the referral letter. So do check with your GP practice.
And I'm sure one of our optoms will correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the system had changed recently, and that optoms could now refer to a hospital direct?
I hope you get some progress!
Anne

Anne

Optoms can only refer directly if there is a specific scheme in place - such as for cataracts - and that optom has been accredited to be able to directly refer. Optoms can also directly refer to A & E in an emergency. However, they still cannot yet refer directly in routine matters.

Sam, Andrew is quite right. The GP is the gatekeeper and what he will do is forward the information the optom gave him to the hospital. It would not help if the GP saw you as he cannot do anything more than the the optom has already done. So do check with the GP that the letter has been sent and if it has, then you should get an appointment at the hospital shortly. If you do not hear back soon, then do as Andrew suggested and contact the consultant's secretary to see how long it will be before your appointment.

Hi Sam.

The doctor certainly wouldn't wish to examine you before referring you to the hospital because he wouldn't have a clue what to look for, would not have the necessary equipment and indeed may never have heard of KC!

However, based on the optom's letter, I would have expected him to arrange a referral to the hospital.
Therefore, you definitley need to check with the doctor to make sure this has been done.

Lynn - thanks for putting me straight! I was obviously naively assuming that optometrist's skill and experience had been acknowledged at last!
Anne

doc doesnt care.get new one

My new doc had to look KC up when I told him I had it, I was pleased he was interested to find out what it was

To be honest you can't expect GP's to know every single issue the human body can be afflicted with, they are called General Practitioners for a good reason. They'll know who the best person to see is though and that's why they make a referral sometimes without even seeing you. In some ways it's good because you don't have to wait for an appointment with them first.

Hope things work out for you and make use of this excellent site for additional support.

Matt