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Received an "open referral" from my GP

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  • 14-05-2023 8:07pm
    #1
    St1mpMeister
    Registered Users Posts: 496 ✭✭


    I've received an open referral from my GP for possibly surgery (not life-threateningly urgent, but will probably need to be looked at in next few weeks), but has left it up to me to contact several hospitals to find whichever surgeon is available for a consultation.

    Found this a bit weird. Should I give the referral to my health insurance and they can then decide on which hospital I should attend, or do I literally just need to ring around all the hospitals passing them my referral letter like a CV for a job application?



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    #2
    HazeDoll
    Registered Users Posts: 460 ✭✭HazeDoll


    You are much better off chasing down the appointments yourself. Call the relevant dept in a hospital and ask if they'll accept the referral. Ask who specifically you should send it to there. Follow up with another phonecall after it has been sent and say you're flexible and you'll take cancellations at short notice.

    Do this with every hospital you can possibly get to, depending on your transport situation.

    Then as soon as you get an appointment do the decent thing and ring the other hospitals to let them know they can give your appointment to someone else.

    After a disastrous encounter with incompetent staff at a regional hospital I have been telling everybody who will listen that the minute there's mention of a referral you should insist that they include you in the referral email. Take your referral and try as many hospitals as you can.



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    #3
    gipi
    Registered Users Posts: 2,893 ✭✭✭gipi


    Before deciding on a location, make sure your health insurance covers the hospital and the particular consultant



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    #4
    HazeDoll
    Registered Users Posts: 460 ✭✭HazeDoll


    The thing is, insurance or not, the cost of attending a private hospital might be well worth paying. I was supposed to be covered in the hospital where I was seen but while I was there I was told that even if I had no insurance at all I would have had to pay a maximum of about €500. I can't remember the exact figure. The insurance weaseled their way out of a lot of the cost and I ended up paying most of the bill myself anyway.

    It was totally worth it and I would do the same thing tomorrow if the need arose. When you need to be seen sooner rather than later, go private and pay for it. That's the lesson I learned.



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