Looking for some referral advice...

Hi folks.

LOVE this board.  All suggestions welcome.

On Nov 1st 2011, my GP told me he would refer me for an RNY.  On December 1st, I was at TWH supporting my wife who is due for WLS in March 2012 and I checked and neither TWH nor the Registry had my referral yet.  So I faxed him the Ministry's guidelines for the Registry and asked him to do it fast.  Please.  I called his office December 19th and they said it had been done but they sounded a little hesitant.  So yesterday, I was at Toronto Western Hospital again and asked the staff to check their files and failing that to please call the Registry again.  No file found.

My doctor's nurse that is in charge of his referrals is a nasty person with whom I have clashed unsuccessfully with in the past.

Any suggestions as to what I should do from here?  I am feeling quite desperate.

- Bin.

Hey Bin. I think you have to call the Registry, to find out if your referral has been sent. I put a hotlink to the "contact us" page.

Always be sweet as pie with whomever youre dealing with, either at TWH, or the registry, and even the nurse at your doctors office. Maybe get her flowers or something.

swift and blinding violence would not be the mature way to handle it but it may be more rewarding..(just my 2 cents..)

Keep in mind that it takes time from the point of registry referral to make it to the specific centre.  I would call or email the registry directly and ask them if your referral has been received.  Also, ask them based on your postal code, where would the referral be sent.  I know you said your wife is at TWH but you never know...

If all else fails, please revert to option 1.

Best of Luck on your wife's upcoming surgery and to you on the beginning of your journey!
TT

Make an appointment with your doc and then get him to do the referral while you're there. He'll need to register online with the registry, fill out the form, print it off and then fax it to the registry. My doc did it all in about 5 mins.

Hi and welcome.

I would print out the instructions for the registry and make an appoinment with your doctor and get it done right then. It isn't much of a form to fill out.

Keep us posted.

Being the optimist that I am, I would like to add that you need to consider that you're referral (if it was done properly and when the doctor said it was done), might be caught up in the "Holiday Backlog".  It has been said to take 6 weeks or more to get thru the Registry and to the hospital, and then the hospital has to put it into their system, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Not to say that you shouldn't follow up, but keep this in mind.  And, to paraphrase someone else above, "More flies with honey than vinegar".

Good luck.

My doctor 'referred' me on November 11th.  I had to call back 3 more times until he finally got it right.  I emailed the address Monica referred to and they were very friendly and quick to reply.  This is what I was originally told:

Unfortunately I do not yet see your referral in our system. This could mean a few things:   1)      That your doctor didn’t fax it off right away (it takes about 5 – 7 days for me to be able to view the referral in our system once it’s been faxed) 2)      Something on the referral was incorrect and was faxed back to your doctor to correct 3)      Your doctor didn’t use the correct referral form


Thankfully, after the third call to the family doctor (and email to the bariatric registry) I am now in the system.  What's that saying about the squeaky wheel? :)

Best of luck to you!

my referral was faxed oct 2010 by apr i still heard nothing back, i called my Doctor's office was told it was fax but they would refax, that was around the first week of april, middle of Apr still heard nothing, i called TWH that had not received the referral, a couple of days later i got a call back from TWH saying they had received my referral and i am noww in a que starting in april, well,, that was unfair my Doctor had the confimation fax that it was sent back in Oct, i emailed the Bariatric Registry my complaint/concern.. got a response that they would look into it, low and behold three days later i had my appt for my orientation,,, so my advise is.. don't give up.. confirm that your Doctor sent the fax, follow up again with TWH to adv when your Doctor sent it, if you hear nothing back,, email the registry, now that more money has been released from the goverment it should be going a little faster even it still almost takes a year, i had my surgery booked for Nov 2nd but canceled it do to work obligations, but now i'm all set for Jan 17, so hang in there my friend,, give it a little time,, and keep calling,,,

 Hi there!
I saw my doctor on 3 Aug 11 and emailed the I guess "registry" & they told me at the beginning of October hat I was referred to TWH.  At the beginnning of Dec I called TWH and they stated it would be in the mail shortly?  This week I still had nothing so I called again & I was verbally told my First group class is on 29 Feb 12 but I still have not received anything  I'm assuming they are really busy!  I can't wait to get my next 2 app's after that & hope it goes a little faster.  

Good luck to you & your wife! 

I saw one of your previous post that you are 8 hours north of Toronto.  I'm about the same so maybe we are neighbors.  LOL  I'm in South Porcupine.