Our team are overwhelmed by requests to expedite hospital consultations. We are sorry but the Newbury Park Group team can not change the waiting times at the hospitals and can not respond to the volume of requests we receive to do so.
You can contact the service provider you have been referred to but they will not be likely to be able to shorten the waits currently either, eg:
- For BHRUT contact AIRS
- For other hospitals contact that hospital’s department or PALS office
- NELFT Community services contact NELFT
- Some services do not publicise patient contact information
See the waiting times at your hospital. Please note that many of these referral times refer to the times AFTER you have been triaged by a triage service (outside of general practice). Triage services have waits too.
The NHS has set up triage services to review GP referrals before putting them forward to the appointment queues. This includes:
- Orthopaedics (joints and bones – surgery)
- Spinal & Neurosurgery
- Rheumatology (joints, bones, muscles & complex problems – non-surgery)
- Many of these have their own out-of-hospital clinics which may provide your care remotely or otherwise as they decide is best.
- Gastroenterology (gut)
- Ophthalmology (eyes)
- Ear, Nose & Throat
- Dermatology
The COVID 19 pandemic has meant that there are more people waiting for an operation or out patient consultation. This means that some people are waiting a long time for a hospital consultation or for treatment.
We know that it can be very difficult for many people who are waiting.
The NHS is working hard to see people as quickly as possible, but it is going to take a while before waiting times are back down to where they were before the COVID-19 pandemic began in the UK in early 2020. The backlog of appointments massively increased during the pandemic, and there has been reported progress in reducing waiting lists, the Outpatients Call Centre and Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) receive a lot of enquiries.
Barking Havering and Redbridge Hospitals have launched a brand-new service which allows patients to contact a dedicated helpline if they are having difficulty accessing their care or appointment:
The new Access Issues Resolution Service (AIRS) will investigate and respond to patients within 24 hours with a resolution plan for their query, which should help improve patient experience.
Contact AIRS if you:
- have not received a follow-up consultation,
- have had a cancelled outpatient consultation, operations or diagnostic tests
- You are waiting for results from diagnostic tests organised by your hospital team.
AIRS is available Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm, and can be contacted by email or phone (0208 970 5704).
If your condition deteriorates during the wait to become an emergency please contact the urgent care services including
- For mental health contact the crisis team on 0800 995 1000
- For physical urgent care needs contact our Urgent Treatment Centres or book a review via our care navigation team (but please note we can not shorten the waits)
- If you are very unwell contact the emergency service
The below video also gives your information on checking your hospital waiting times without contacting the surgery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb_-TVmX9r4
Estimated Waiting Times
Please visit the Wait Well, Stay Well website to learn more about checking waiting times at your hospital.