What a bl)@&/ joke! Please, please read this on the NRAS website. I don't think anything has annoyed me as much for a very very long time. How on earth can any of this come about when a) many GP's haven't got a clue about RA and are reluctant to pass patients on? I was speaking to a lady last week who is In agony and quite clearly has RA but her GP said it was just a bit of arthritis!! I was so annoyed I recommended she changes GP's and to cut a long story short, she enrolled with my GP and has an appointment to see a rheumatologist In 6 weeks. b) how on earth can new patients be seen within 3 weeks when there are barely enough rheummies around to make the 18 week pathway? And of course, this target means that those of us with established RA are shoved to the back of the queue with less and was frequent appointments! Sorry for this rant, but much time, money and resources have been poured into this report which is just guidelines. Surely the money expended would have served a more useful propose if extra rheumatologists were employed and all GP's brought up to date with RA and the treatment available.