"Urgent GP referral downgraded"

I had a referral for gastroenterology made in 2023. This was routine and not considered a priority. I was in pain that inhibited my life but waited. I got an appointment in August but the day of the appointment a personal emergency happened. I was unable to attend and extremely frustrated after waiting over half a year. 

Once my personal situation resolved my health got worse, the pain completely stopping me from doing anything as well as lots of other extreme symptoms. I was told my previous referral would have been ended due to in attendance. After embarrassingly needing to visit A&E after having bouts of vomiting and no sleep for several days, missing so much work, a new referral was made to be urgent in early September. 

I was told I should hear something within four weeks but heard nothing. I then called the outpatient booking service for gastroenterology and was told I’m not likely to hear anything until late December, early January. By the beginning of February I still hadn’t heard anything. I called them up and was told it could be even longer. I said this didn’t make sense as it should be urgent. I was told my referral wasn’t listed as urgent. The call agent then checked my file and saw the new referral was marked as urgent, and was chased by my GP to be expedited. 

After seeing it should be urgent they explained the new referral was combined with the older one so it was on the system as routine. They then said as it was urgent they could offer me an appointment for 6 weeks time. This appointment was not sent to me by letter or text, so I doubted it was real, given my past experience but hoped I would at least be in the urgent list, and would call back during that week if I hadn’t heard anything. The doctor did call in the end, at the end of the day when I had already given up they would call. 

I then called the outpatient booking service recently to explain I had missed my appointment and about getting rebooked. I was told there are no appointments available for gastroenterology and was on the list. I explained I wanted to make sure I was on the urgent list, as my referral had been mistakenly downgraded before. The agent told me they couldn’t change it and it’s common to combine the two referrals and it would remain this way unless expedited. I asked how I could expedite, and they said this wasn’t possible as there were no appointments available. I explained I understand this but I wanted to make sure I was in the urgent list, not the routine one. I was told I could try calling in a couple of weeks to see if there were any appointments. 

I explained I just wanted to get my referral on the urgent list, I understand there aren’t any appointments, but I wanted to get it moved across now so I wouldn’t be waiting another six months. They then told me it wasn’t possible unless the older referral was removed. I asked how I could do this and was told it was impossible to do. 

All I really want is to be placed on the list I should be, urgent. I don’t understand why this would be downgraded and then I can’t just simply be put on the urgent list as referred by my GP. 

I would like this to be looked into and rectified if possible. I would greatly appreciate this as due to missing so much work due to my symptoms I have lost my job. I would like to go back to normal and have whatever is wrong with me figured out.