Hi dolphin99 and a warm welcome to Cancer Chat, 

We are delighted to welcome you to our forum even if you don't have a diagnosis yet and it's lovely to have another member from beautiful Northern Ireland! I am sorry to hear you are facing such long waiting lists and I can completely understand your frustration being in your sixth week on a red flag list - it does sound like a really long time to have to wait. 

You might be interested to read the information we have on our website on cancer waiting times and the guidelines and referral pathways in Northern Ireland. We also have in-depth information on basal cell carcinoma which I hope you will find useful. 

I hope that you will hear from other members from Northern Ireland who have faced similar waiting times and that they will come and share their experience with you. It will also be interesting to hear from others who are in other parts of the UK and who went through a similar process for suspected basal cell carcinoma. 

As you say, any wait feels too long but 74 weeks really is a long time and I hope that you will manage to be seen a lot quicker than that. 

Best wishes, 

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

Thanks for your lovely warm welcome, Lucie, and very helpful links. That's really kind of you and greatly appreciated. I do apologise for the ambiguity of my post. I'm not on the Urgent list (as you say, it's really long). I'm actually on the Red Flag list which, as far as I understand, is reserved for suspected squamous cell carcinoma or melanoma (because of the risk of spreading). My referring GP warned me I was facing a six week wait and I therefore hope to get an appointment soon. Thanks once again. 

Sorry, Lucie. Having read the information you kindly sent me I realise that the Northern Ireland referral system is different to the one used in England. For clarification, the trust covering my address has three dermatology waiting lists:

1. Red Flag (which seems to take suspected cancers that are most likely to spread): Wait Time currently 6 weeks.
2. Urgent (which takes suspected basal cell carcinoma): Wait Time currently 74 weeks.
3. Routine (which takes everything else): Wait Time currently 172 weeks.

I'm on the Red Flag list.

Thanks and apologies for any confusion caused to anyone who read my previous posts.

Hi Angie.

Thanks so much for your very kind response. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at explaining things. This has probably confused me as much as anyone else who's glanced at this thread!

No, I haven't actually seen a dermatologist yet. I had an appointment with a GP at my surgery who specialises in skin complaints and referred me as a red flag to dermatology. In Northern Ireland, red flags are prioritised over urgent referrals (confusing in itself). This referral included magnified photos and was triaged by one of the dermatology staff a few days later and I received a text informing me I'm on the red flag list. Hence, I've been warned there's a six week wait before I'll actually see a dermatologist. Having said that, waiting times are reviewed on the first Thursday of each month, when they can be increased.

There are five trusts in Northern Ireland, some with longer waits than others (I think my trust might be the longest). Historically, for various understandable reasons, I think the NHS in Northern Ireland has had dreadful problems with waiting lists for many years, leading to an investigation by the ombudsman three years ago. Nowadays, if we've been waiting more than a year for treatment we can now go anywhere in the EU, pay for the treatment ourselves and part of the cost will be reimbursed from Northern Ireland.

Thanks again and best wishes.  

I know that the NHS isn't very good in Northern Ireland at the moment as I know several patients who have melanoma & the time it's taking to get treatment is terrible. I hope you aren't waiting too much longer and it either turns out to be benign or, if malignant, they get it treated as quickly as possible. Good luck and please let us know how you get on.

Thanks, Angie. You're very kind.