Hi Georgie,

I'm sorry you are going through this & that your appointment isn't for 5 weeks. Unfortunately, the waiting list to see a dermatologist is getting longer than the 2 week pathway for several reasons - catch up after Covid, a lack of dermatologists and histologists and the fact that more people are becoming aware to check their skin & seek help if they find an unusual mole (it shows that melanoma education is working but the hospitals can't cope with the rise in patients seeking help).

If you can afford to see a private dermatologist it may be an earlier appointment but even these consultants aren't seeing patients as quickly as they once did. The only thing I can suggest is that you ring Dermatology & say you are happy to take a short notice cancellation (if you can drop everything within a few hours). This sometimes works (I've been successful a couple of times but it was either a phone call to go later that day or the next morning).

Hopefully your mole will turn out to be fine (75% of patients are given a clean bill of health). Good luck and please let us know how you get on,

Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient since 2009)