Time from referral to diagnosis to diagnosis/treatment?

Hello Dogs4me 

It varies around the country. There are 215 Health Trusts - take off the 10 ambulance trusts and 15 mental health trusts and you have 190 all working to their own agenda!!

Everyone is different - I went to the GP on 23 December by 30 December I had had biopsy, MRI, bone scan and ultrasound scan and was already on Hormone Therapy - but I nearly died so I am slightly different!!

It all gets better once you get that diagnosis but the waiting for it is the hardest part of the journey.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hello

We are in Scotland, NHS tayside.....we are exactly 5 weeks today from the GP sharing psa results with my partner to referral, we have had a bone scan and ct scan, meeting with Urologist and started on HT immediately, just over 2 weeks in with that.

CT results tomorrow, not sure if my partner will have biposies or straight to treatment plan but so far its all been timely. All details are in our bio, feel free to have a read. Good luck️

Thanks Brian. I guess nearly dying might speed things up a bit!

Thank you. And wishing you both all the best for tomorrow.

My path was PSA result in late February 2024, MRI in second week of March 2024, Biopsy Late March 2024, outcome in early April 2024, PET CT SCAN mid May 2024, Prostate operation in mid June 2024.

I would add the journey after the operation is taking much longer!

Hello Dogs4me

i can only answer for England where the Government sets a 62 day Referral to Treatment target (RTT) for all hospital trusts for patients on the cancer pathway. This is that, from the day the GP refers a patient to hospital with suspected cancer to the day the patient has his or her first treatment should not be longer than 62 days. Our local hospital consistently monitors the data to see by what percentage they are achieving this target. I am not sure if there are any penalties for not achieving the target but our Trust publishes their percentage achievements in its monthly board meeting papers. 

when we were struggling to get timely appointments for the various diagnostics and results, I mentioned the 62 day RTT and received some surprised looks - as if to say they were surprised I knew about it! At the time I hoped this was part of our being ‘politely assertive’  in keeping things moving after a suggested delay of 3 months between MRI and the appointment to get the result!

HTH

My details were:

Blood test 01/09/22 (PSA 89.9)

Urology meeting 15/09/22 (started Zoladex HT)

Biopsy 03/10/22

Diagnosis 24/10/22

(the rest is on my profile)

The waiting is a terrible time where days go too slow - the day of the diagnosis the days speed up and the detail will overwhelm you. Take care and come back to ask all those questions you start to think about - we are here to help (which helps us too) Good luck and be patient but be your own advocate in this new chapter you’re now in.

My dates:

03 Apr 2024                    2nd PSA (confirmation of reading) 16.9.

18 Apr 2024                    MRI

08 May 2024                  Biospsy

05 Jun 2024                   Formal Diagnosis of cancer

13 Jun2024                    Bone Scan

14 Jun 2024                   Started Bicalutamide (28 days)

17 Jun 2024                   CT Scan

02 Jul 2024                    Started Prostap (3 monthly)

24 Oct 2024                   Started Radio Therapy (4/5 weeks delay caused by                                                 another hospital being awkward - didn't go to that one                                             ! ) PSA now 0.9

23 Nov 2024                   Finished RT

28 Jan 2025                   1st post RT Appointment ( PSA now 0.06)

                                       So far, still looking pretty good....................total side                                                 effects of HT & RT have been minimal.

Thank you. They suggested 3 months! That is crazy! 

Thank you. That is very helpful. Seems like LH's 5 week wait from MRI results is long (assuming it goes ahead on Sunday with the strikes)