NHS Urgent appointment - Tumour

MNM2903

Hi All,

Not sure if this is the right thread but its the closest i could find.

Basically in october last year i went to my GP as i had a slight loss of hearing in my right ear, it got worse to the point where it was causing pain.

Anyway they put it down to an ear infection and gave antibiotics. They didnt help so went back a second time and was told the wrong antibiotics were given so i was given another course plus a spray for my ear. This helped. Then i have been back a futher 3 times since and given the same treatments and still have the same problem.

I went back and told them ive been in 5 times since october and given antibiotics which i have had to pay for each time at £14 per course due to being 2 items.

They checked it again and the GP said it looked like it could be a tumour in my ear and he would have it urgently referred and id be seen within 2 weeks. I hadnt heard anything so contacted them to be told the letter was sent for me to book a slot with ENT online. What they done in error was send it to an old address which i had changed and they hadnt updated their systems which they admitted to.

I then got a little angry on the phone given that i was told it could potentially be a tumour and they booked it over the phone for me and re issued the appointment in the post. This urgent referal is now an appointment to be seen by ENT department on the 7th september.

I phoned the appointment line and was given the pleasure of speaking to an operator called marilyn who basically said i cant do nothing thats the earliest appointment, she also mentioned it was down as urgent but thats the next available slot.

I should add that when i got told all of this by my GP that it could potentially be a tumour he was straight on the phone to the ENT department and had it on speakerphone while i was there with him and they both agreed an urgent referal within 2 weeks was neccesary.

Does anybody know what else i can do to get something earlier? As you can imagine being told this kind of thing isnt nice and ive been worried sick with it. If it does turn out to be a malignant tumour isnt the timescale a bit ridicolous? surely they should be able to see me alot sooner than this not to mention its took 5 GP appointments to get to this stage?

j.e.j.

Welcome to the NHS... and it's going to get worse, under this current lot.

I remember when they were last in, and you had to wait 13 months just to see a hospital doctor.

The only thing I can suggest to anyone is to get some private medical cover.

easy

MNM - go back to your GP. Ask the GP to help, they may get onto the ENT department to expedite the appointment, or try to get you an urgent appointment at a different department (can you travel to another town if necessary to get an earlier appointment??)

If the NHS can't see you urgently, your GP CAN use private facilities to get you seen, but they will be loath to do it cos it hits their budget. Your GP will not know that you are experiencing this delay unless you go and tell him/her.
Do it. be assertive (but pleasant- it isn't the GPs fault) and insist that they make effort to get you seen NOW.

MNM2903

Yeah ive been in contact with the surgery, i dont have a specific GP ive actually been seen by 4 different people when ive been in about this. The first time is the only time i seen the last guy who straight away thought it was more serious than an ear infection.

I contacted the surgery who said the next appointment was 7th September. They couldnt do anything about the date.

I wouldnt mind but if it looks like a tumour surely it should have been picked up a long time ago and id probably have been seen by now.

I dont mind the NHS i have MS and have been well looked after. My GF is a midwife there and she seems to think i should go to A&E and take that route but im not convinced thats the best way to do it?

Ill try getting an appointment with my GP and seeing if they can push it

patchwork_cat

Try PALS, explain to them and see if there is anything they can do. j.e.j I agree off topic, that is why I don't understand why they have been voted in again do people not remember or see these things?

Dizzy_Ditzy

There are different "levels" of urgency. A two week wait referral is for suspected cancer. I suspect that your referral was sent by your GP as urgent but not two week wait.

Referrals are triaged by the consultants when they are received. I imagine, going by what you have said so far, that the hospital do not suspect any malignancy. There is a condition called cholesteatoma, which is a benign tumour and fully treatable with surgery. They'll see you, examine you, give you a hearing test and quite likely send you for either a CT or MRI scan so they can get a better look at what's going on in there.

I hope that this gives you a little bit of reassurance. I know how difficult it is when someone hears the word "tumour". Ask your GP surgery to clarify what route of referral they have taken, and ask for a copy of the referral.

Please feel free to PM me if I can help in any way. I worked in ENT for a long time

FBaby

As above, something is not right, either in what the GP has communicated to you, or with how your referrals has been dealt with.

If there is suspicions of cancer, your GP should refer you under the 2 weeks wait. You cannot do that under Choose and Book, ie. you can't do it yourself, your GP would have to make the referral. Although you cannot be guaranteed to be seen under 2 weeks (targets are not 100% and in anycase, not all Trust meet their targets), but you should certainly be seen soon after that.

Urgent referrals are different, ie. you could deteriorate if not seen soon, but not a forseen risk of cancer.

Either your GP is seriously incompetent, which is least likely, or indeed, he might have used the word tumour, but not in the context of cancer (you can have non cancerous tumours, although I wasn't sure you could be certain it could be one and not the other without any diagnostics).

Contact your GP for clarity. Alternatively, were you offered a choice of hospitals? If not, you should have and there are tools to check shorter waiting lists (but this is if your referral does not fall under the 2 week waits rule).

Goldiegirl

Last year I had a loss of hearing in my right ear.

I went to the docs, and after a couple of weeks he referred to me to an ENT.

I decided to go private, to save waiting around.

When I saw the consultant, he told me many things can cause a sudden loss of hearing, one of them being an acoustic neuroma, which is a BENIGN tumour in the ear.

This is a very rare condition, which won't kill you. Often, if the tumour is small, they monitor it for many years, as there's no need to operate unless it grows.

I was sent for an MRI scan (also private), really to rule out the tumour.

Happily the scan came back clear.

I don't know if you have any other symptoms to go with your deafness, such as as tinnitus and vertigo?

I had deafness, plus the tinnitus and vertigo, and was eventually diagnosed with Menieres Disease, which I now control with a low sodium diet - I'm very well now.

As the sort of tumour that they suspect is not life threatening, they won't see it as priority. But I fully understand the worry you are experiencing, as it's a scary thought that you might have a tumour, even if it is benign.

I think the only way you can make it quicker is to go private - and believe me, it's the best money I ever spent, to get an answer within a week.

But if you can't afford to go private, please try not to worry too much, these acoustic neuromas are very rare, and there are lots of others causes for deafness.

DomRavioli

OP, There's nothing to suggest anything about a malignancy, only a tumour.

Stop stressing, you are not on a 2 week referral for malignancy, you are on an urgent referral for a potential mass, the huge majority in the ear are benign.

There's nothing that can be done for your rumination.

FBaby

DomRavioli wrote: »

OP, There's nothing to suggest anything about a malignancy, only a tumour.

Stop stressing, you are not on a 2 week referral for malignancy, you are on an urgent referral for a potential mass, the huge majority in the ear are benign.

There's nothing that can be done for your rumination.

I'm confused about this post. On one hand you say that nothing suggests cancer, then lower you say the majority of tumours are benign. Clearly there is still the minority?

If I was OP, I too would be worried and want a quicker appointment. Things CAN be done. OP is entitled to go and see a consultant anywhere in the UK offering NHS treatment, so what she can do is check other hospital waiting lists and ask to be referred elsewhere if she is prepared to potentially travel further, something her GP should have offered her in the first place.

I was once referred for an ophtalmology appointment to the local hospital. The waiting list was over 3 months. I checked and hold and behold, the other local hospital (only 10 mns further) had slots at 5 weeks. GPs often refers systematically to one particular hospital as they can't be bothered to monitor waiting times to different places (especially as this can change quite quickly with just one consultant on long sick term or resigning, or a new recruitment).

Goldiegirl

I just wanted to reiterate my experiences, when I was in exactly the same situation as the OP, in order to set his mind to rest.


I had hearing loss last year, and went to the doctors. After a few weeks faffing around with steaming the ear (which did no good at all), I asked for a referral to an ENT, and asked for a private referral, as I wanted to find out quickly what was going on.


A few days later I saw the consultant at the local private hospital. He explained that my symptoms (loss of hearing, a full feeling in the ear, tinnitus and vertigo), could indicate an acoustic neuroma, a BENIGN tumour in the ear. With acoustic neuromas, often no treatment is given, other than monitoring them, as there's no need to operate unless they grow beyond a certain size


Acoustic neuromas are very rare, and he wanted to eliminate this before he could diagnose me.


Therefore an MRI scan was needed.


I asked how long it would take on the NHS, and was told 4 - 6 weeks. I didn't want to wait that long so I went private again. I had the MRI scan two days later and got the results a week later - all clear.


As I said in my earlier post, I was subsequently diagnosed with Meniere's Disease.


I think the GP has mentioned the word 'tumour' but hasn't given any more explanation - hopefully my experience clarifies what the situation is likely to be.


In summary -


The GP 'thinks' it 'might' be an acoustic neuroma - a very rare, slow growing, benign tumour, in the ear.


This is not an emergency, and the NHS won't treat it as such.


If the ENT appointment is on 7th Sept, the MRI scan will probably take a further 4 - 6 weeks, so that will take him well in to October.


So the choices are -


Wait for the appointment booked


Run himself into the ground trying to find somewhere in the country that can do it quicker on the NHS - remembering that this is not classified as urgent.


Go private get the answers within a couple of weeks.


It is a very scary prospect that you might have a tumour, even though it is a benign tumour. That's why I went private. I got the answers I needed quickly. It was money well spent - after all your health is priceless


When you have something wrong with your ears, the symptoms are similar - hearing loss, pain/fullness, vertigo and tinnitus. There are many different things that could cause this. An acoustic neuroma is one of the least likely things as it is so rare - they just want to eliminate the possibility.