Don't know how to access CT results

I moved for uni and registered at a new GP. Before this I had an ongoing issue my GP at a different city was following they were the ones to refer me for CT scans. A week since that I had called my old GP thinking I'd be able to access it but they said they can't access it (receptionist) since like i've been unregistered from them which I didn't know happened probs automatically. called my new GP and they said to call the CT scan hospital. hospital told me it's my GP's responsibility to follow up and that they can't send it to my new GP only to the GP and specific doctor that has sent me for it. so now its been 2 weeks since the scan and i just thought that because it'll get sent to my original doctor who was following the issue surely they'd call me with the results. I forgot what the nurse said at the hospital if i'll get the results mailed or called. 

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  • Hi,

    This is all very confusing.

    First of all your GP doesn't normally get your scan itself, they normally get a report from a radiologist saying whether or not anything unusual was seen. The same applies to your consultant. You have a right to receive a copy of any letter about you sent to your GP. In my experience as a patient, I normally get to know the results either face to face or, since Covid started, via a phone consultation well before my GP does!

    Second, don't get hung up trying to second guess what any change in the speed with which or the way you receive results means. I worked for a long time in the NHS and believe me the processes are anything but smart. Like a sausage factory, the scans or samples goes in one end and the results are reported  out of the other with little or no human intervention. Good news or bad news almost inevitably follow the same, often frustratingly slow, process.

    Good luck with your results!

    Dave 

  • hi! thank you for your reply. I hope at least the gastroenterologist can tell me whats on the scan. what makes it weirder is that the scan was a chest and neck not a stomach one so i thought td be referred to a neck and throat doc maybe 

  • Okay so the place that have booked me in with the gastreontologist didn't get my scans- theyre a different centre. I phoned the hospital where I did my CT and they told me they haven't finished the report and they'd sent it back to my old GP which is fine since I know they share records so I can still access it at my new GP. I guess maybe the scan is more complex than I had thought so it's going to take 3+ weeks for them to complete the report i don't know 

  • saw the gastreontologist today. said they'll try to request the reports and mail them to me and my GP. he's reassured me it's nothing serious but will be referred to the ENT soon

  • Hi,

    For what it's worth, the delay in reporting is probably down to the long-standing national shortage of radiologists compounded by Covid, something CRUK is currently campaigning about.

    The hospital that I'm currently working for has been badly hit by Omicron - far worse than is being reported in the media. Also the majority of GPs are once again doing little except Covid jabs by order of Boris and Co.

    Good luck for when you finally get your results - the length of wait you are suffering is frankly unforgiveable.

     

    Best wishes

    Dave

  • Hi Dave,

     

    Thank you so much your message has helped to quell my nerves a bit. I'm feel worse symptoms wise so I'll probably have to ring my GP again for that - related to the scan.                           

  • they recevieed the report the GP but i have been told to book with my doctor to discuss it. they texted specifically  the words  'routine appointment'. i called and i'm speaking over the phone with them on tuesday i don't know how to feel. i think they found something :( 

  • Thank you. They told me my thymus is larger than usual which my GP doesn't know if that means its directly causing my symptoms or an accidental find. Scans gettting sent to a specialist for their opinion. 

  • Been updated and apparently the hospitals been discussing my case a lot it made me feel a bit uneasy as if somethings up. They think for my age it might just be natural for it to be a bit larger which makes sense since it's supposed to get smaller with age and I'm only 19. But they wanna be on the safe side and do an MRI which I don't know if it will be soon since there is a waiting list I think. Routine Blood test came back fine tho which is reassuring. I don't know what an MRI can see that a CT can't which I've had done already.   

  • MRI scans have better definition than CT scans, so they show more detail when the radiologist zooms in. 

     

     

  • I don't know how bad the backlog is but its been 2 months since referral and they don't know when the scan will be 

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