Seeing a dermatologist privately

Thank you all for your response. I rang the hospital and apparently the consultant has put this into the category of routine which means a very long wait. The very nice person I spoke to advised speaking to my GP who can plead my case as urgent as it is having a negative impact on my life style.
I will speak to my GP next week about a referral to a private consultant.
I can not go on like this. I need to know what the problem is then hopefully find the right treatment. I believe (rightly or wrongly) that once a diagnosis is made treatment can be carried out on the NHS.

My friend rings every single day - to see if there's a cancellation - when waiting on a list. It seems to work (as I bet they get really fed up with her).

I’m always intrigued b these tv programmes in which someone has had a medical condition for years that has been misdiagnosed or wrongly treated by the NHS. Eg there was a programme about skin conditions a while back in which a young lady had sore, peeling skin, mainly on her face. Even I could see that it was psoriasis because I watched The Singing Detective years ago. The doctor in the programme sorted her out in a matter of weeks. She’d suffered for years because her doctor misdiagnosed it.

I went to see a dermatologist privately 4 days ago. The wait was 2 weeks and the cost £200 plus treatment costs. I did not go via my gp. I found him via google and then looked up his reviews, qualifications and experience. He was wonderful and the clinic was linked to the local hospital, the private wing. It was worth every penny

You could ring the Bookings Office and see where you are in the queue and get a rough idea of your appointment date? I used to work as PA to 4 consultant dermatologists. Between them they saw every referral letter that came in and would write on each one ‘routine’ ‘soon’ or ‘urgent’. These letters (paper in those days) went back to the Bookings Office the same day to go on the appropriate lists. If patients rang to enquire then they were told of their allocated priority. If they chose to go privately to be seen I used to give them 2 or 3 telephone numbers so they could ring the dermatologist’s private secretary to enquire about fees and dates. Good luck, whatever you decide. Your quality of life will determine your need.

Well I asked my doctor for a private referral to a consultant.