I rang up about my MRI results today as I havent heard anything yet and I was told that a report hasn’t been generated yet. The secretary told me that it takes three weeks to generate a report and then the neurologist will contact me someway. She said by letter/phone or tell me the results in an appointment. I was told it takes a week to two weeks to get the results?
Also everyone is saying to me that if I had anything theyd contact me straight away?
I’m so confused by all of this
Hello Sati
You must be living in what seems like hell at the moment. Why, oh why, can’t radiographers/neurologists/medical professionals behave like proper human beings and develop a bit of empathy for people?
I just read your earlier thread, right from the time your MRI finished you’ve been biting your nails fretting about the scan. Unprofessional or what? Letting you catch a glance at a scan that shows some thing scary looking - even if it wasn’t your scan. In fact especially if it wasn’t yours!
You’d imagine a result from your scan could have been delivered and the results given to you a bit quicker!!
I’m sorry, I have nothing helpful to add, I’m just annoyed on your behalf! (In a kind, empathic kind of way!)
I don’t necessarily agree that if they’d found ‘anything’, you’d know sooner. I’m sure that if there was anything really scary you’d be contacted ASAP If the answer is a non-urgent result, then the neurologists wouldn’t be thinking about you sitting at home (in Lockdown without sufficient to occupy your mind!), they’ll just treat it as an everyday, non priority event.
I really do hope you get answers soon.
Sue
So sorry that this is dragging on for you. Yes Sue is right. Urgent with NHS neurologists seems to be only for conditions that require immediate treatment in a life or death situation. Things like MS and indeed most conditions that neurologists deal with are slowly progressing conditions so neurologists feel no great need to hurry with results. Many seem to think the 18 weeks referral to treatment pathway doesn’t apply to them either. Some do seem to forget that the patient is a human being not merely a case number.
It is pretty standard for the radiographers report to take 2 to 3 weeks. Then the neurologist will file it in their ‘to-do’ intray. When they get round to it depends on their workloads and priorities. And patients are left waiting. The word ‘patient’ comes from the latin meaning ‘to suffer or bear’. That’s certainly what many neurology patients seem to experience, just from their encounters with the medical profession alone.
Whether the word ‘patient’ was still an appropriate word was discussed as far back as 1999 in the BMJ -
Do we need a new word for patients?
That may help to divert your attention for a few moments, as it quite an interesting read especially for those struggling with the current health system.
Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it, yeh this whole process has been really stressful.
I agree, there seems to sometimes be a lack of empathy. But I guess its just a waiting game now.
Thanks for the insight and reply, yeh I think that’s really interesting about the concept of a ‘patient’. I hope in the future they’ll be more of an emphasis on the emotional well being of people trying to find out what’s happening with their bodies. There definitely needs to be a more holistic approach to health care.