NHS / Private

liverpool

Hello everyone I am new on here and suffer with O/arthritis in the left ankle I am also six months into a frozen shoulder(pain in early stages unbearable but not too bad past few months)I am working and only 50 pain and stiffness in ankle getting worse and worried about ability to keep working.I am waiting for a referal to a consultant in leeds,does anyone know if I can pay for private consultation and then revert back to NHS for any treatment that he may recommend?thanks in advance and I hope the weather is not causing too much increase in pain as it is with me Adrian

kathbee

Hi Adrian

I too am in West Yorkshire and 11 yrs ago when I presented
with R A symptoms I paid privately to see a consultant for the
first appointment, and then saw the same guy at the NHS
clinic to commence and continue treatment.

The only advantage I found was that I got to see him earlier
by paying around £90 as the fee was back in 1998,
the treatment was no different, in fact sadly the consultant
in question was a right miserable old ... and I didnt have any
faith in him whatsoever either privately or NHS clinics.

Hope you can get some relief soon.

Kath

elnafinn

Hi Adrian

First of all welcome to the forum. I am sorry to read your thread. Many consultants work both in the private and NHS and you can find out beforehand, if you wish, if this is the case. If you go to see a consultant privately in the first instance, and he does work for the NHS he will more than likely suggest that.

If you see a consultant that is only in private practice I presume, armed with the information you receive, it is then up to you to get referred to a NHS consultant, rheumi or whatever he suggests at the initial appointment.

I wish you well

Elna x

barbara12

Hi Adrian
A very warm welcome to this forum, I have OA andtreated on the NHS, but my hubby went private with his knee, because he needed to get back to work,he paid the initial fee to see the consultant, and from then on was treated on the NHS...alot quicker then I was.
Hope this helps
Barbara

chile168

Hi Adrian,

Sorry to hear you are having a rough time at the moment with OA but glad you found this forum and extend a WARM WELCOME.

Although I haven't had private care, I cannot see why you can't pay for a private consultant and still ask your GP to refer you.

As far as I'm aware a private consultation is exactly that and doesn't go through NHS system as far as Im aware.

Good luck and think you will find the forum friendly and supportive.

Eve x

liverpool

kathbee wrote:

Hi Adrian

I too am in West Yorkshire and 11 yrs ago when I presented
with R A symptoms I paid privately to see a consultant for the
first appointment, and then saw the same guy at the NHS
clinic to commence and continue treatment.

The only advantage I found was that I got to see him earlier
by paying around £90 as the fee was back in 1998,
the treatment was no different, in fact sadly the consultant
in question was a right miserable old ... and I didnt have any
faith in him whatsoever either privately or NHS clinics.

Hope you can get some relief soon.

Kath

Thanks for reply Kath I too have seen some consultants who are dis-interested so decided to look further afield

liverpool

elnafinn wrote:

Hi Adrian

First of all welcome to the forum. I am sorry to read your thread. Many consultants work both in the private and NHS and you can find out beforehand, if you wish, if this is the case. If you go to see a consultant privately in the first instance, and he does work for the NHS he will more than likely suggest that.

If you see a consultant that is only in private practice I presume, armed with the information you receive, it is then up to you to get referred to a NHS consultant, rheumi or whatever he suggests at the initial appointment.

I wish you well

Elna x

Thanks for reply Elna I am just trying to speed things up in order to continue working

liverpool

barbara12 wrote:

Hi Adrian
A very warm welcome to this forum, I have OA andtreated on the NHS, but my hubby went private with his knee, because he needed to get back to work,he paid the initial fee to see the consultant, and from then on was treated on the NHS...alot quicker then I was.
Hope this helps
Barbara

Thanks for reply barbara this is what I was thinking of doing

jordan7j

Hi Adrian, and welcome to the forum. I started with NHS but when I couldnt get an appt I book a private one, He was brilliant, told me more in one 45 min visit than I had in 4 visits to NHS. It was expensive £190, but definitely worth it. He has suggested meds which he thinks will help, and I see my usual rheumy on Friday, and hope to get onto them.
Also the private consultant has agreed to see me at his NHS clinic at another hospital, I just have to get a referral from my GP
If you can afford it, I would say, definitely go for it, it puts your mind at rest, and gives veryf quick results regarding getting meds ordered. Obviously no guarantee that it will be the right ones for you, but at least you get some quicker!!!

liverpool

chile168 wrote:

Hi Adrian,

Sorry to hear you are having a rough time at the moment with OA but glad you found this forum and extend a WARM WELCOME.

Although I haven't had private care, I cannot see why you can't pay for a private consultant and still ask your GP to refer you.

As far as I'm aware a private consultation is exactly that and doesn't go through NHS system as far as Im aware.

Good luck and think you will find the forum friendly and supportive.

Eve x

Thanks for welcome Eve I am fairly sure that I can but thought I would check if other people had done same,just getting fed up with this starting to control my life

liverpool

jordan7j wrote:

Hi Adrian, and welcome to the forum. I started with NHS but when I couldnt get an appt I book a private one, He was brilliant, told me more in one 45 min visit than I had in 4 visits to NHS. It was expensive £190, but definitely worth it. He has suggested meds which he thinks will help, and I see my usual rheumy on Friday, and hope to get onto them.
Also the private consultant has agreed to see me at his NHS clinic at another hospital, I just have to get a referral from my GP
If you can afford it, I would say, definitely go for it, it puts your mind at rest, and gives veryf quick results regarding getting meds ordered. Obviously no guarantee that it will be the right ones for you, but at least you get some quicker!!!

Thanks for reply just speeding things up if possible will ring private seceratery tommor

karenjane

Hi Adrian and welcome - they're a great lot on here and have helped me so much is a very short space of time.

The Rheumy i saw also has a private clinic and as far as i can tell as long as you make sure they work both in the NHS and privatley you can refer back to NHS after inintial consultation.

Good luck

Karen
xx

caprica

Hey,
I was going to do the same as you, was getting fed up of waiting on NHS and booked private app for 5th feb, but then my NHS one came through for the 18th so I'll go to that and see if I'm happy. If not, I'll look somewhere else.

Can't hurt to try anyway, I just want to second what the others have said - check that the private rheumy has an NHS practice.

From what others have said it makes a HUGE difference to have a good relationship with your doctors, so good luck finding a useful one!

karenjane

Hi Caprica, how are you feeling at the moment?... as predicted i suffered big time after a day out shopping with my step daughter and her friend. Had a great day tho..

Karen
x

caprica

Hey Karen, sent you a private message

liverpool

karenjane wrote:

Hi Adrian and welcome - they're a great lot on here and have helped me so much is a very short space of time.

The Rheumy i saw also has a private clinic and as far as i can tell as long as you make sure they work both in the NHS and privatley you can refer back to NHS after inintial consultation.

Good luck

Karen
xx

Thanks for reply Karen

liverpool

I have had referal before caprica and not got to see the consultant I wanted,so thought if paid I would see who I wanted

elnafinn

liverpool wrote:

I have had referal before caprica and not got to see the consultant I wanted,so thought if paid I would see who I wanted

Yep, money talks! As you will be parting with megabucks you will also be making sure that you get as much information and treatment out of the appointment as possible.

Have all your questions written down and take a pen to jot down answers.

I wish you well,

Look after yourself, as you appear to be doing.

Elna x