Scotland referral process

Hi Jo81 

The referral system is different in Scotland-I moved from there down to England 13 years ago so I don’t have experience of SNHS now. My referral in England was marked urgent and my appointment took 3 weeks to come through. The 2 week wait in England has changed now, but my original referral was in 2018 when it did apply. 

My appointment involved a chat about symptoms, family history and whether or not I’d had children, and then I had an internal examination. This involved a hysteroscopy-tiny camera into my womb-and taking some punch biopsies when the gynaecologist saw what he described as a lesion. None of this was painful, just a little uncomfortable.

I was bleeding when I had this done, which made it difficult for anything to be seen, and bled a lot when I stood up, but the nurses were lovely and very understanding. I’m sure they’ve seen it all! I did ask if it would be ok to have an examination when I was bleeding and was told it was. 

I hope you’ll get your appointment through soon-the days can seem endless while you’re waiting!

Sarah xx

Thank you so much for this, really helps to have an idea of what the appointment entails..

I’m feeling a bit of both, want the letter to come asap so I’m not in the dark anymore and either deal or move on .. but also dreading it so a little laid back about chasing it

I’ll give it another week I think and investigate if I’ve heard nothing…

thanks again ️

Timelines for referrals are only ever a guideline but I completely understand the feeling of wanting to know to get answers and not wanting to hear what might be said! But ultimately it is better to know to stop your mind working overtime and over thinking. 

Let us know how you get on, and I hope it’s nothing serious.

Sarah xx

Hi Jo,

I hope you are doing ok.

i am also in Scotland (Aberdeen) - after my initial smear, I was also given an “urgent” referral, but if I remember correctly, it was several weeks before I was seen. My follow up appointment was with the gynae team who did a colposcopy and biopsy. Following that, I was referred to have an MRI, which again, took some time. 
If anything of concern is found, then things speed up from there, or in my case, they did.

I had a smear in October 2024, MRI 21st December & diagnosed 6th Jan. 

If you ever want to ask anything about my experience, please feel free. I would imagine treatment in Scotland would all be similar, however it also may differ slightly depending on the hospital.

Sara x

Hi Sarajazzle 

i had both of my babies in ARI - I lived in Aberdeen for more than 30 years before I moved! 

Treatment follows the guidelines set out in FIGO (International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics) for the staging of cervical cancer so is broadly the same throughout the UK, with some tweaking for each individual case depending on the circumstances and stage of the cancer. We all follow much the same standard path when cancer is identified. 

Sarah xx

I also had all of my treatment just now in ARI, small world ️ SarahH21 Sarajazzle 

Oh, it’s a small world right enough! My sister did her nurse training there many moons ago.

Sarah xx