Is it normal to have to chase a consultant for MRI report?

fro9etb8j5qsl2

I had an MRI done this day 2 weeks ago. I was told by the technician that the consultant would contact me within 7 days and if I hadn't heard anything within 10 days to ring the hospital for an update. After 10 days of hearing nothing, I rang the hospital only to be told that the technician was wrong, it was up to me to contact the consultant directly for the results myself and that he was probably waiting for me to ring for the last week :mad: So I rang the consultants on Friday morning, got no answer but left a message. I heard nothing back and tried ringing again yesterday only for it to ring out again. Same this morning. Is it normal to have to hound a consultant for test results? I'm a private patient and it's a private hospital so I expected a bit more than getting shuffled from pillar to post

Alun

My experience with these things is that yes, you do have to chase them up, and it's an endless cycle of "He's not in can he call you back?" .. no reply .. call again .. rinse and repeat for days, sometimes weeks until you get a cursory "The consultant says there's nothing wrong" from his secretary. Either that or the secretary is waiting on a handwritten or dictated report from the consultant, so she can type it up and send it on by snail mail. Honestly, it's like living in the 1950's again with some of this lot.

Only on one occasion did the consultant actually ring me himself, in the evening, and also tell me I could call or email him at any time after that if I had any more questions. I nearly fell off my chair!

Private / public .. it doesn't seem to make any difference.

SpaceTime

Yup, that's the absolute norm in the Irish health 'care' 'system'.

Basically, manage all your own information. In my experience, the hospitals lose files, can't find things, don't communicate with themselves never mind with the patients.

My very, very ill grandmother was regularly called into a major Dublin hospital on several occasions and then sent home because they couldn't find a file or they hadn't got a report.

Unfortunately, in this system chaos is the norm.

huskerdu

I agree.

My mothers consultant did not contact her about the results of her tests so she happened to be passing his office one day and dropped in to ask. The receptionist asked if Mam wanted to see the consultant. Mam asked if she would be charged €120 again for the privilege of having her results read out to her. After the receptionist got over the shock of a patient being so cheeky, she admitted that yes, she would be charged. Mam refused and said that she would like the results by phone. Of course, he didn't ring and she had to ring again the next day to get them.

username123

Totally normal.

My favourite part is when a secretary guards the consultant as though she is guarding the Gates of Valhalla "oh no, Mr xxx is VERY busy and VERY important, I couldnt possibly put you through or even ask him to call you back. I will do my best <<snigger>> to get a message to him but considering you are not actually about to die, theres a fair chance the about to die crew will be taking up his time and he will only get to your frankly hypochondriac enquiry in a few weeks time, at which point I wont be able to locate your phone number so best if you call me back."

You basically have to keep annoying them, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

SpaceTime

That being said, I went to a consultant in Cork recently (as a private patient) and it was the other extreme.
The guy was really laid back, his receptionist was fantastically helpful and really friendly, totally unpretentious and super efficient. She even rang me the day before the appointment to make sure I remembered.

To top it all, he only charged me a consultation fee once, and it covered 1 consultation and three minor in-clinic procedures (very minor but it involved equipment and time).

Still had change of €100 and nothing charged to insurance!!

Sadly, I think he's in the minority, but there are some fantastic medics out there who aren't money-grabbing in the slightest. It's just a shame they're not all like that.

sam34

speaking (typing) as a consultant, no, it's not normal. I always tell people that if their results (be it bloods or scans) are normal, they won't hear from me amd if they are abnormal they will get a call from me and I will contact their gp. I always give them a timeframe also -ie "if you haven't heard from me by Thursday next week you can take it that the results are normal ".

maybe I'm one in a million though!

username123

sam34 wrote: »

maybe I'm one in a million though!

Well one in a few hundred thousand anyway

In fairness my ENT is lovely and his secretary is very helpful and he has squeezed me in between patients and not even charged me. But I always think he is unusual as a really really nice consultant!!

apache

Well my experiences must be different as my results always get faxed to my GP within 2-3 days.
Granted I'm paying but it should not make a difference. I have always had my results within 2-3 days. I would not expect anything less. Thats terrible OP :mad:

ash23

I had an MRI last October and the results sat there for 7 weeks until I went to my GP for another matter and he advised me to chase them up. I called radiology and they posted the report to my GP (it took over a week).

The GP then arranged an appointment for a consultant (the consultant had seen me briefly in A&E and organised the MRI but i wasn't actually his patient at the time).

I had suspected MS and the MRI confirmed it. If I hadn't bothered following up on the MRI I still wouldn't be diagnosed. It's very easy to fall through the cracks.

Keep on at them OP.

Spook_ie

sounds like its one extreme or the other ! my experience in January with a Neurosurgeon was consultation & MRI done on a wednesday, and my mobile rang at 9am on the friday morning and it was the consultant giving me the results.

periodictable

Have to say been through the ringer with health some years ago, still reg consultant checkups and nothing but the best of service. Have insurance but I don't know that lack of such ought to be a problem. Perhaps that I have made it clear I wanted to be involved in top of and involved in what was happening-they respected that and I always got a personal call. I did change from one guy who told me I didn't need to know my test results...."because I'm paying you" was the answer.
The vast majority are fine, some genuinely overly busy and may overlook, and a small minority of twits.

singsong321

I think it depends.

If it's a condition of a progressive nature then you'd probably receive results in written form and a follow up appointment. I can only say this from my own experience with MRI. Perhaps ring up your department and state you would like your results sent to you in written form? Good luck