My wife has an ongoing neck problem (compressed disks) which have flared up really badly meaning she can’t raise her left arm up and is in constant pain (she’s on various prescribed drugs including codeine to manage the pain). She went to the doctor who referred her for an urgent MRI (at our local hospital) and a referral to the neuro department at the regional centre (as our local hospital doesn’t have a neuro dept.) The doctor there said that the MRI wasn’t of a good enough quality (because the local hospital’s scanner isn’t as good as the one at the regional centre) so requested a second MRI scan at the regional centre. However they have just come back to us saying the request for an MRI has been refused by their radiology department and the secretary ‘isn’t at liberty to tell us why’ and suggested we go back to our GP! Having never been in such an unusual situation we are struggling to know why this has happened and what else we can do as surely the GP could only refer us back again!????

Ask for a phone consultation with your GP – quicker and easier than going in. They will be able to get the ball rolling.

But surely the ball was already rolling and someone in radiology with no knowledge of the case has cancelled the MRI the consultant said he needed (as he was considering surgery but the original MRI wasn’t conclusive enough).

Go on the nhs choices website and choose where to go and have the scan done rather than just going where the go says

But the scan has been cancelled so it won’t be there surely?

Can you not contact the consultants office to get it re-booked ?

I can’t believe he/she will be very happy that his clinical requirements have been ignored.

The reason the scan wasn’t justified will be stored on the hospital’s RIS (Radiology Information System). They may not be prepared to tell you but should be able to tell the GP or consultant if they ask. It may be that the original request simply didn’t have the details required and the GP/consultant should re-request and possibly prioritise due to the delay

EDIT – you might also want to try contacting the regional centre’s waiting list co-ordinator and pointing pout that this is delaying the beginning of treatment which your wife needs so potentially breaching their RTT (Referral to Treatment Time) pathway

NHS bingo, collect the stamps as you get referred then referred then refused.

Only option I know of is back to your GP, then complain about being pissed about.

If the consultant requested it then it is the consultant you need to contact. Not the GP.

The wife had a bit of a runaround for her MRI. In the end we paid for a private scan (at the same nhs hospital), then once we had the scan went back into the nhs. Not ideal but was all pretty slick

As above, neurology consultant’s secretary should be your next port of call. Presumably if he’s ordered investigations then she has a follow-up appt coming up at some point anyhow?

I asked Mrs S about this, she is a GP. She said to phone GP and explain. If she heard that from a patient she would sort it out for them, medical secretary more likely to listen to the GP than to patient.

Most GP’s are pretty intolerant of time wasters, especially those form with the NHS. They are therefore likely to deal with it quite abruptly!

Sorry been at lunch so a bit of a delay here…

Can you not contact the consultants office to get it re-booked ?

I can’t believe he/she will be very happy that his clinical requirements have been ignored.

Yeah that’s a good point – I think she has his details in the letter so we could try that.

The reason the scan wasn’t justified will be stored on the hospital’s RIS (Radiology Information System). They may not be prepared to tell you but should be able to tell the GP or consultant if they ask. It may be that the original request simply didn’t have the details required and the GP/consultant should re-request and possibly prioritise due to the delay

EDIT – you might also want to try contacting the regional centre’s waiting list co-ordinator and pointing pout that this is delaying the beginning of treatment which your wife needs so potentially breaching their RTT (Referral to Treatment Time) pathway

Yeah they told us to speak to our GP (who isn’t available until next Monday) and said ‘it’s nothing to worry about’ which is, by definition, giving us plenty to worry about! And thank you for the bit about RTT – I will mention it to my wife.

If the consultant requested it then it is the consultant you need to contact. Not the GP.

The bookings bod at the neuro centre said we have to go back to the GP though (although as above, we will see if we can get hold of the consultant).

The bookings bod probably has no idea who requested it. Your wife is under a consultant now (giggidy) so use them. Hope you get answers.

As above you need to speak to the Neurologist Secretary. The booking Clark wouldn’t have been in a position to comment.

Thanks all – it seems she is happy to wait it out until Monday. I think the drug cocktail is chilling her out :-/

Good Luck! My Mum has been going round in circles for 2 years trying to get a hip replacement sorted out being bounced around 3 or 4 hospitals with operations and consultancy appointments cancelled…

It’s supposedly scheduled in for April, but I won’t hold my breath!

The bookings bod probably has no idea who requested it

That depends on the RIS – ours (widely used in NHS England, less so in Scotland) means the appointments staff do know who made the original request (or can find out, it’s coded but who the code refers to is available at a keypress). I suspect other RIS’s will be similar as if there’s information missing from the request it’s the appointments staff who chase up the missing info.

Not in your location but you can request the information from the trust and they will have a process, does not speed it up for the wife though.

I did it with my back scan and they sent me a copy of the mri on disc.

So you could request they identify why the scan was refused.

Another option if you have the cash is a private mri and consultation then op on NHS, this may be the quickest route if you both feel you need to take the quickest option.

Below is an example of making a FOI request you should find the same at the trust who refused the scan.

http://www.eastcheshire.nhs.uk/About-The-Trust/Freedom-of-information.html

That depends on the RIS – ours (widely used in NHS England, less so in Scotland) means the appointments staff do know who made the original request (or can find out,

It also involves them looking.