Best EP in Southampton

[Redders]

Does anyone know a good EP in Southampton hospital please ?

[Hidden]

Hiyer, I’ve heard of Dr Paul Roberts but have no personal knowledge or experience. His credentials look OK but then they always do.....hopefully others may know more......are you considering another ablation?

[Redders in reply to Hidden]

Hiya flappy, no not me but my son who lives in Southampton has been having a lot of AF when he exercises. He nearly faints as well and he’s not on any meds. His wife has booked him a private appointment with a GP but I think it should have been with a EP. Hope you are feeling fit and well, are you on another holiday?

[Hidden in reply to Redders]

No disrespect to the GP but I agree with you....much better to invest in seeing an EP. Yes, we are good thanks.....get a few wobbles every now and then but doing OK. Calais on Wednesday, not sure where we are going yet, all depends on the weather.....how are you.....

[Redders in reply to Hidden]

Morning Flapjack, yes I also get a few wobbles now and then, but I’ve got this awful heartburn and burning tongue and feeling nauseous all the time. I’ve got to have a camera down my throat on the 23rd so not looking forward to that. Wish I could be put out for it. Anyway enjoy yourselves wherever you end up. Hope you get some nice weather. Val

[MarkS]

I live near Portsmouth and when I was looking for an ablation I considered Southampton, particularly the Heart Rhythm Centre, heartrhythmclinic.com/

I looked at Prof John Morgan and contacted him to ask a few questions as he was the top man. But he only did about 80 ablations a year. So I looked at the London AF Centre (London Bridge Hospital) and contacted Prof Richard Schilling. He did 200+ p.a. and also ticked other boxes so I chose him. I was ablated nearly 10 years ago. It was successful and has been since other than a few short runs of ectopics every few months.

As your son is based in Southampton, I would definitely check out London. It's only an hour on the train.

I would go for a private consultation with your selected EP first of all, armed with a list of questions. Then you may be able to get the actual ablation on the NHS if you don't have private cover. Forget the GP, they know nothing as far as AF is concerned (and my wife is and father was a GP!)

[pottypete1 in reply to MarkS]

Prof Morgan retiring from the NHS some years ago and is now only practicing privately.

Southampton General Hospital is a centre of excellence and I cannot speak highly enough of the specialists based at UHS.

Pete

[Redders in reply to pottypete1]

Yes I’ve heard Southampton is one of the top centres. Thanks Pete hope you are feeling well. Val

[Redders in reply to MarkS]

Thank you so much for your reply, I have heard Prof Schilling is very good. I’ll pass this on to my son.

[Hidden in reply to MarkS]

Can I ask why you didn’t go to QA or is that a silly question?

[Redders in reply to Hidden]

What is QA ?

[Hidden in reply to Redders]

Queen Alexandra Hospital Portsmouth

[Redders in reply to Hidden]

I was asking on behalf of my son who lives in Southampton. I live in sunny Devon but not so sunny today

[pottypete1 in reply to Hidden]

Southampton is a Centre of Excellence specialising in arrhythmia. It is only 20 miles from Portsmouth. Despite long term road works on the M27 it only takes about 30 - 45 minutes.

I have been in Southampton General more times than I can count and I have met patients from Worthing, Guernsey Weymouth and Yeovil.

Pete

[Redders in reply to pottypete1]

I’ve just spoken to my daughter in law and she said you can’t book a private appointment with a EP in Southampton unless you get a referral from a GP ??

[pottypete1 in reply to Redders]

I am sure that is the case.

Why go private it will cost thousands.

A GP can refer you to an EP of your choice.

I have messaged the name of my EP to you. Have a look at your messages.

Pete

[MarkS in reply to Hidden]

My local EP was from QA and he didn't have enough experience. So it was he who I got to refer me to Prof S. I paid for the two consultations with him myself. They were half an hour each and we could fully discuss options, prognosis, etc. I think I had 15 questions on my second visit. The ablation itself was covered by BUPA. Prof S carried out the whole ablation himself using a combination of cryo and RF. One of my PVs was too large for the cryo balloon so he used RF on that. Then he found sound errant signals in the ligament of Marshall and ablated those with RF.

Ablation success is highly dependant of the skill and experience of the EP so that's why it's worth going to a top one. Through the NHS you are handled by a team and that team may just be under the supervision of the EP. I know of people who went to a top EP through the NHS but never saw them during the ablation.

Ablations are expensive so a compromise is to have private consultations followed by ablation on the NHS.

[Redders in reply to MarkS]

Thank you MarkS I’ll certainly pass on all this to my son. He is seeing a GP on the 16th because he has to be referred by a GP to get to see EP. I’ll certainly recommend Pro Schilling. Best wishes.

[wilsond]

Well,what I can say is that I looked for an EP with a good reputation,found one and saw him. On list currently for ablation,long wait so have seen him recently. He tells me may not be him but one of his team!! What's the point?!! Maybe best to check out the hospital score/ record?

[Redders in reply to wilsond]

Thank you wilsond.

[radagast58]

I can highly recommend Professor Schilling

[Redders in reply to radagast58]

Thank you, he does seem to be the best of the best.