NHS urgent referral. Will the GP change it to another hospital?

UnsureAboutthis

As the title states.
I live in England
The GP made a referral, an urgent referral on Monday
and the appointment is on Friday.

I've rang around and a hospital which is also covered by my GP practice is seeing new, urgent referrals within  2 days if they assess it so.

(The original hospital would have seen my loved one on Monday but cited "strike action
is causing delays, ie cancelled specialist clinics for the referral needs.)

Do we have a legal right to request this as that is ho I am reading it on the net, but just
want to be armed with the full facts before calling the surgery tomorrow.

Flugelhorn

you can discuss it with the practice and see what they say, they may be able to expedite the referral to the other hospital -  just be aware that it may however take longer than 2 days for them to send it and assess it and you may not be seen any earlier than Friday 

GrubbyGirl_2

Your original hospital will likely have had the same 2 day standard but don't forget the other hospital will also be rescheduling their urgent referral due to the strikes so chances are they won't get seen any sooner and may be even later than the Friday appointment they already have.  You might be shooting yourself in the foot

 If your GP felt they needed to be seen immediately he could have arranged that anyway and had them admitted.  I am sure you're stressed but Friday is pretty good considering the strikes, and even in serious (but not requiring admission immediately) cases a few days will not make much, if any difference

UnsureAboutthis

Thanks.
We will call them a bit later today.
The other hospital has a shorter wait list and is still the case
as possibly the strike action is having less impact.

GrubbyGirl_2

UnsureAboutthis said:

Thanks.
We will call them a bit later today.
The other hospital has a shorter wait list and is still the case
as possibly the strike action is having less impact.

Just be careful, they wont allow you to be on 2 lists at once so you may lose your place on the first hospital.  Let us know how you get on?