What to do if GP's hospital referral is rejected?

Just wanted to add that Lichen Planus is an autoimmune disease.

No rejection but it sounds like you could benefit from Ikervis eye drops which are prescribed by the hospital. Mine were also swollen and eye drops not helping to much, but I do have Sjorgrens.  If it helps I went to my local optometrist who just happens to have the eye dr from the hospital do the standard eye exams and he faxed through to the hospital straight away.  Do not give up and keep pushing if you have to.

Good luck,

Mandy

Regards,

Mandy

So sorry to hear about this Cheetah. I always knew the NHS wasn't up to much. I worked for it for 10 years back in what were supposed to be the glory days of the 60s and 70s and frankly it wasn't much cop then either. But I didn't think it had got that bad!

Still, you do get what you pay for - and UK social security contributions from salary are the lowest in Europe. Taxes are pretty low too, on a European scale. Nothing to be done about either, I'm afraid, as the electorate wouldn't stand for a price hike. Even the legendary Mrs. T couldn't get away with that one!

Every country seems to get the health service it deserves. Here we have the reverse problem. We pay 13% social service contributions (vs. 7% in UK last time I looked) and minimum 25-40% tax on salary throughout our working lives, and on top of that we also have to pay a charge at point of service. The latter keeps going up year on year, and everyone moans like crazy about it. I keep trying to explain to my compatriots that the reason for this is the immediate availability of just about any investigation or treatment, which clearly points to wasteful over-capacity.

Last time I was due my two-yearly DEXA scan, I saw my GP at 9am, was given the request form, called my local polyclinic to make the appointment and was told to come along at 11.30am the same day. That's clearly ridiculous. I remarked to my neighbour that I'd be happy to wait six weeks for a routine exam like that, and go to a centralised hospital in town, rather than have it available at a dozen medical centres within walking distance of my house. That way, we might keep costs down a bit. She nearly had a fit - said that would be totally unacceptable!

The ideal health service would fall somewhere mid-Channel, on both price and availability, but neither country's electorate would agree to that. Like I said... the health services we deserve.

I hope you get that referral. It's important to get dry eyes seen by an ophthalmologist.

Why worry about a possibility?  Because that's what you're worrying about, just one possible negative outcome.

Lease remember that only a rheumatologist can diagnose Sjogren's - an opthmologist may think you have it but Sjogren's is much more than dry eyes. Other autoimmunity such as RA, Lupus, Behcets, Hashimoto's or MS can cause dry eyes without it being Sjogren's - which usually affects the whole system. So really, if you suspect that you have Sjögren's then you need your GP to refer you to rheumatology rather than opthamology - and take blood tests for full blood count plus inflammation plus RF and ANA and thyroid bloods. Opthamologist can always point this out to GP if they suspect Sjogren's - but only positive antibodies or positive lip biopsy can diagnose Sjogren's.  Hope this helps. 

Thank you all very much for your really interesting and helpful replies.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I do get to see the ophthalmologist without any problems, but I'm sure now that this triage system has become countrywide - apparently it was trialled in the north-east - we will be seeing other comments about it.  I do wonder, Lilly, if people would actually pay more for the NHS if that option was presented in the right way.  I certainly would.  Thanks again, all.  

Me too - and I think most tax payers would. 

Hi Cheetah, my name is Eve and I am a 14 year old girl dealing with primary sjogrens. I remember when i was getting diagnosed is took me almost a year for them to actually confirm it which was the most annoying thing ever. Unfortunately because its so rare its hard to recognise however they didnt usually turn down a gp appointment so thats a little unfamilliar to me. Hope everything gets sorted.