"The wait to be seen"

I have been seeing cardiac consultants at Bedford Hospital and in early May my consultant said I would be referred to a consultant at Papworth Hospital for further treatment. This was done, and they and said it might take 3 to 4 months before I would be seen by the Papworth consultant. From May til today (September) I have heard absolutely nothing. On telephoning Papworth and Bedford Hospitals I was informed by admin staff that it was apparently only recently the booking service at Bedford Hospital received a request back from Papworth requesting them to offer me an appointment when the consultant visits Bedford for a clinic. Bedford Hospital said there was no available appointment for me until January next year and at least 11 other patients are ahead of me also waiting. 

After saying that this was very stressful for me and how neglectful this seems I was told that I could have an appointment for early December and I was to await a letter confirming this. 

The reasons given to me for the delay in arranging an appointment varied between Papworth saying there were staffing issues and they had been moving offices, and Bedford Hospital told me that no one had been to do clinics and this had caused a big backlog.

My health is deteriorating and my quality of life is poor and dwindling. I have had 2 life threatening strokes and 3 heart "events". I am only 68 and I never know how I am going to be from one day to the next. Whether I will have a collapse and be taken into A and E and admitted as has happened before which is very scary for me and my relatives and costs the NHS valuable resources - all of which could be avoided if only I could have the timely treatment as was envisaged by my Bedford consultant when I was referred to Papworth. 

I still have confidence in my consultant but I am losing confidence in the NHS as a system overall because of this delay and the lack of meaningful communication. 

I don't want to die just waiting to be seen and I am concerned that the referral/booking arrangements between hospitals has caused unnecessary delay which is continuing even now. I am desolated that the wait to be seen has been so long and is still continuing. 

I was told today from a different source that there is supposed to be a 18 week target to see a consultant once referred by a GP, but I am unclear if this 18 week target also applies when a patient is referred from one consultant to another.

Only today on telephoning Bedford Hospital did I discover that the appointment was to be at Bedford and not Papworth. This arrangement seems to limit the opportunities to see the second consultant and therefore appears to to add inequality in the system for patients like me.

The delay from May when I was seen by my Bedford Consultant to the provisional date when I may be seen by the visiting consultant so far is nearly 30 weeks. This does not seem right. There has been no apology.