"Appointment time."

I have a chronic nasal condition and I felt it was getting worse so thought an appointment with my consultant would be in order. My consultant is an incredibly decent guy who had given me his NHS Lothian email address. So I emailed him earlier this month and, received an acknowledgement and an appointment for later in November a couple of days later. If I had gone through the channels deemed acceptable by NHS Lothian that would have meant an appointment with my GP, (three week wait) a referral by letter from him (a few days) wait on appointment (perhaps three months).

Which is the better system for those with chronic conditions?

Mind you some consultants will not do this, I was prescribed a medical procedure and on reflection decided that I was not happy with having this. Tracked down the consultant's email address and contacted them directly his reply was that I needed to be referred to them again by my GP, they were not in the slightest bit interested in my fears. Fortunately I managed to contact the surgeon who readily agreed to see me and when I did they told me that the procedure I had been prescribed was totally unnecessary.

So come on NHS Lothian join the 21st century and make contacting consultants/surgeons far easier and then you could perhaps cut down on the 7% of unnecessary medical procedures performed each year.