Consultant appointments

Just wondering how often other people see their consultants. I was seeing mine yearly when I was first diagnosed in 2014 but when Covid kicked in it went to telephone appointments. Now I don’t even get them. I’ve been given the impression my consultant no longer runs a clinic at my local hospital. I guess that’s why I’ve heard nothing. Another consultant is running clinics from my local hospital do you think will I be able to transfer to the new consultant. I had a mri in 2023 to check the status of my ms. I thought we would have had appointments to discuss but I just got a letter stating there’s nothing active. I feel that I’ve been abandoned by my consultant and wanted to find out how often others get appointments and scans

Thanks

My guess is that your experience is fairly common if not the norm.

I used to have an annual session with my consultants but, in the absence of any major changes in my MS all he did was ask pretty much the same questions and having the same discussions as my MS Nurse. I always thought that it was an expensive and slightly pointless waste of a consultants expertise and time. I now see an MS nurse every 6 months and will be referred to the Consultant as and when my condition changes

As time has gone on and my MS has gone from RRMS to SPMS the frequency has definitely changed. I used to see my consultant every six months and the MS nurses every six months, so an appointment every three months or so. Nowadays I see the consultant once a year, I have the telephone number for the MS nurses if I need them, and I see a consultant who specialises in spasticity once a year. I think because I’m not on any DMTs there’s not really much I would need to see my consultant for. The MS nurses are incredible though and call me back within a day or two if I leave a message for them, and they put me in touch with anybody I need like a physio or an OT. During Covid my consultant was removed from his day role and put into a more operational role, but he has actually come back to the day job now. It’s possible that a similar thing happened to yours and he never came back.

Have you got a team of MS nurses available to you? I’d rely on them if I were you, and if they think you need to see the consultant they’ll definitely grab them by the ear and give it a good twist😉

Another good way to find out what’s going on to see if there’s a Facebook group for your local MS support group, you’ll be able to see if everybody’s having the same problem with that specific consultant and whether anybody’s managed to get transferred over to a different one. It may be they’re only transferring people over when they nag enough of course, one way of minimising the number of people waiting for an appointment is to only deal with the people actively asking for them. Not ideal, but definitely effective.

Appreciate your replies, thanks for all the info. Yeah I have a ms nurse that I can contact so you’re probably right.
I just found it a bit strange as a friend of mine still sees the original consultant but travels further to see him. But she’s on meds and that may be why.

I have a telephone appointment with my consultant once a year. I think it’s because of the DMD I am on, he just asks if there’s been any changes and requests an MRI. I used to go to see him once a year until Covid which meant a really difficult journey into London and a day off work but a two minute phone call instead suits me much better.

I was once told that once you have a diagnosis, there’s not a lot the consultant can do and subsequent care is better done by MS Nurses. I don’t think this applies for everyone but I also have an annual appointment with mine and she is great.

I was diagnosed in 2018 and saw the consultant twice before Covid kicked in. I’ve had 1 telephone appointment since then and now all my care is handled through my MS nurse, who is brilliant. I’m not on meds and to date I’ve not had any new major issues, so I guess I’m not likely to see anyone else until I do.

1 Like