Hospital referral rejected

My husband had an appointment last Saturday. We had a text to say it had been cancelled because he hadn’t confirmed it! We looked back at all in information and although he was told to cancel if he couldn’t keep the appointment nowhere did it sat he had to confirm!
They had another slot on the same day so they gave him that one. Could that have happened to you? At least they informed him before we set off.

I also receive a text message reminding me of the forthcoming appointment and asking me to confirm my attendance and there’s also an option to rearrange the date and time.

I would have questioned this further with the hospital Contraryme, they were the ones who ‘rejected’ you surely?

Seemingly now you have to go through the referral process all over again ……… such a pain, when you’re in pain!

Surely the receptionist must have had a rejection code on his screen to give you some indication? What a bummer for you, I hope it gets resolved.

There is a news item this mroning saying how hospitals are cutting waiting lists by pushing patients of them.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/16/nhs-kicking-patients-off-waiting-lists-labour-targets/

You need to be so proactive these days. Since my DH had a stroke and suffers with various other related health problems we have had appointments cancelled just an hour before our appointment when we had already made an exhaustive journey by train to get there, and scans not organised before an appointment with a consultant who needed the scan results so that we had to ring radiology on several occasions ourselves to make scan appointments, and were told we were referred back to our GP by the eye clinic when my DH is suffering impaired vision and needs ongoing care.
Is chaos. I am literally at the end of my tether with all of it.
Please do question everything and don’t let anyone fob you off, they will try to.

The appointment system is hopeless. I have regular appointments with a consultant, who needs blood tests and an ultrasound to check progress. They are rarely done in advance, so I see him for what amounts to a chat, then get a letter afterwards when I've had the tests. I've complained, and he is also annoyed, but 'the system' means that he doesn't make the appointments, so all he can do is also complain.

I once had an appointment sitting on the NHS app, and had no idea what it was for (no department or doctor was named). As the date approached, it updated, with reminders that it was coming up, so it was clearly a 'live' appointment. I can't remember the wording now, but it was for an operation, not an outpatient appointment. I rang the hospital, who couldn't help as I didn't know what the appointment was for, and they couldn't find me on the system. In the end, I told my GP, who managed to cancel it. Nobody (including the GP) knew how it got there, and we never found out what it was supposed to be for.

Not quite the same but my friend feels she is being fobbed off by the NHS. After an accident last September her leg injuries became infected. Once the infection had cleared she went privately for some physio. Several weeks later her physio advised she return to her GP to be referred for a small operation on her foot. GP said she needed a letter from her physio, duly obtained. GP then wanted a blood test, so she made an appointment with the HCA. Instead of doing a blood test, she was told she needs to see an NHS physio. And so it goes on……

I’m really sorry to hear of all the NHS problems people are experiencing. Mine is a different, but equally frustrating and annoying story.
Many here will know my friend is a true hypochondriac, she demands and is referred to local hospitals for multiple issues on a regular basis.. Today is session 3 out of 6 appointments for physio on her hands. It seems she’s doing the same stretch and clench motions that can be found on YouTube! She’s a brilliant friend but her misuse of the NHS makes my blood boil!

I too have been “rejected”. My GP, at my request, referred me to the orthopaedic department, to see an orthopaedist to gain a view of how far my osteoarthritis has progressed based on hips and knees X ray (NHS) and a spine MRI, paid for by me.

Having waited 5 months I finally received an appointment, with a letter stating I was downgraded and would be seeing a physio! I was livid, I saw a physio once a week for almost 6 months in 2025, received much advice and exercises to do a home and a couple of soft tissue massages, all paid for by me!

Now I have to start from scratch! I’m fuming!

I've never had an appointment wasted but the communication between hospital and GP is not great.
However the whole system is run by humans and we do make errors, communications do get missed or misunderstood.

I am beginning to think that it's a way of reducing waiting lists

M0nica

There is a news item this mroning saying how hospitals are cutting waiting lists by pushing patients of them.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/16/nhs-kicking-patients-off-waiting-lists-labour-targets/

Yes, it has been happening here for a long time.

It happened to me yet I knew I had been on the list for a TKR and a PKR on the other knee because another Consultant checked on the computer when I tore a meniscus.
Four years later I had the TKR, six and a half years later I'm still waiting for a PKR.
It happened to two other people I know too.
Do they hope you'll get fed up and go privately?

David49

I've never had an appointment wasted but the communication between hospital and GP is not great.
However the whole system is run by humans and we do make errors, communications do get missed or misunderstood.

No, it seems to be deliberate.

I rang the hospital, who couldn't help as I didn't know what the appointment was for, and they couldn't find me on the system. In the end, I told my GP, who managed to cancel it. Nobody (including the GP) knew how it got there, and we never found out what it was supposed to be for.

Someone is wondering why they never heard about their operation ....

Appointment texts, emails and letters arrive which is good - belt and braces. Unfortunately, they all arrive after the time of the appointment! The Consultant and staff told us they wondered why patients failed to keep appointments.

Much is excellent, much is a complete shambles.

I have been told a few times by my GP that they were referring me to various clinics and I never heard a peep. I have learned to live with these things now- some of them got better and some no worse.
The system is a joke, I agree.

I fear it is deliberate.
Unless you are proactive at every stage you are dropped to the bottom of the list.
Keep phoning central appointments. Keep telling anyone who'll listen that your pain is worse.

I waited years to have my new hip because I was patient.

I keep getting letters to my French helper who stayed with me for 2 weeks, 11 years ago!
She became ill so I took her to my GP but she had to sign up to the NHS before she got treatment.

Letters to tell her she's due a smear test and similar, arrive regularly. I have tried to stop them but am told due to privacy she must do this herself and I have not had contact with her for years.

It leaves me with no faith in the NHS statistics or the appointment system.

Believe me, as someone who has to navigate the NHS regularly as a full time carer for my DH, the system is broken, no department communicates with the other and mistakes are made. They are usually ok with emergency care - though not always - but terrible with everything else.
Maternity care seems to be abysmal in many hospitals.
Is just very sad that it has come to this, and we can’t afford private care.

I have been referred to Cardiology after an ECG.
I received a letter from the hospital saying the referral would be looked at to see if they agree I need to be seen and to ring in two months if I haven’t heard.
I have now received a further letter to say I have been put on a waiting list.
It is obvious someone vets the referrals and devices yea or nay.

There is an article in today’s DT stating that patients are being removed from waiting lists so on paper it looks as though targets are being met.

Paywalled so no link.

Allira

^I rang the hospital, who couldn't help as I didn't know what the appointment was for, and they couldn't find me on the system. In the end, I told my GP, who managed to cancel it. Nobody (including the GP) knew how it got there, and we never found out what it was supposed to be for.^

Someone is wondering why they never heard about their operation ....

Appointment texts, emails and letters arrive which is good - belt and braces. Unfortunately, they all arrive after the time of the appointment! The Consultant and staff told us they wondered why patients failed to keep appointments.

Much is excellent, much is a complete shambles.

That's why I was keen to get to the bottom of it. I knew I wasn't expecting an operation (and you'd know, wouldn't you?) and confirmed that the GP hadn't referred me for one without my knowledge. There was nothing wrong with me, other than my usual routine decrepitude, so that was highly unlikely. Also, I'd expect the software to pick up things like date of birth and address when adding a patient to a list.

There are several Doodle Dogs near me, so it was distinctly possible that the appointment was for someone else, though. When I was young I was sent an appointment to have my veins stripped. I still have no need for such a thing (do they still strip veins?). I rang to query it, and got calls, letters and verbal apologies way out of proportion to what was basically a minor inconvenience. I don't need them, as it was clear the appointment wasn't for me, but the other Mrs Dog could have missed her operation if I'd just thrown away the letter.

Georgesgran Please don’t be too quick to judge your friend. I see a private physio for the pain in my hands and she really makes a huge difference to how I can function with severe osteoarthritis. She manipulates the joints in a way that I couldn’t. Often there’s a click as the joint becomes better aligned. Yes, she does watch me do my exercises too and checks I’m doing them the right way. If your friend is a hypochondriac that is a genuine mental health issue (health anxiety) and she may be able to access therapy for it. It can be disabling. ‘A Body Made of Glass’ by Caroline Crampton is an award winning and informative book on the subject.

I hear you, Fallingstar. My Dh has a rare and serious condition. When you actually get to see someone they are good, but the horrors outside those appointments are nightmarish. Getting a blood test, for example, shouldn’t be so difficult. Our surgery no longer does them, you have to go to a ‘hub’. When I called them saying Dh needed a test to be done for the following week, the earliest appt was about six weeks later, by which time he would be needing a follow up appt. Eventually, we were told to go to one of these infamous hubs at the local hospital. We didn’t know whereabouts it was so I asked for directions to the hub at Reception. ‘What’s the hub?’ they replied? 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

I was spending much of each day on the phone to various people and even going in person to some places. The worst was probably when we had to make a 50 mile round trip for a two minute blood test.

It wouldn’t be too bad Autumncolours if my friend recognised and acknowledged her ‘illness’ but she doesn’t. She keeps a diary beside her bed to register any slight issues and is on the phone as soon as lines open the next morning. The problem with her hands is ‘a bit of stiffness’ but she’s convinced it’s R or O Arthritis. Sadly it’s one of the reasons her second marriage ended, although her ex. remains supportive, but doesn’t have to get involved with all the appointments and tests she undergoes, which all result in ‘unremarkable’.

Doodledog

Allira

I rang the hospital, who couldn't help as I didn't know what the appointment was for, and they couldn't find me on the system. In the end, I told my GP, who managed to cancel it. Nobody (including the GP) knew how it got there, and we never found out what it was supposed to be for.

Someone is wondering why they never heard about their operation ....

Appointment texts, emails and letters arrive which is good - belt and braces. Unfortunately, they all arrive after the time of the appointment! The Consultant and staff told us they wondered why patients failed to keep appointments.

Much is excellent, much is a complete shambles.

That's why I was keen to get to the bottom of it. I knew I wasn't expecting an operation (and you'd know, wouldn't you?) and confirmed that the GP hadn't referred me for one without my knowledge. There was nothing wrong with me, other than my usual routine decrepitude, so that was highly unlikely. Also, I'd expect the software to pick up things like date of birth and address when adding a patient to a list.

There are several Doodle Dogs near me, so it was distinctly possible that the appointment was for someone else, though. When I was young I was sent an appointment to have my veins stripped. I still have no need for such a thing (do they still strip veins?). I rang to query it, and got calls, letters and verbal apologies way out of proportion to what was basically a minor inconvenience. I don't need them, as it was clear the appointment wasn't for me, but the other Mrs Dog could have missed her operation if I'd just thrown away the letter.

There's at least one other Allira in our GP practice, they constantly got us mixed up and at the chemists too, when I received her medication as well as my own. At least we have different dob and the receptionists double-check that now.

However, I do know a lot of her medical history due to the mix-ups. Data Protection? Forget it.