AF ablation advice

[highbury44]

I currently live in Newcastle upon Tyne and have been under the care of a Dr Bourke regarding my PAF at the Freeman Hospital.I haven't needed to see him since 2018 but apparently he has now retired.My PAF has now become difficult to keep under control so I have decided to go private,for an ablation.So I was just wondering if anybody can recommend a cardiologist.

[mjames1]

If you don't mind traveling to London, you might want to book an appointment with Professor Richard Schilling at Barts.

Great reputation, friendly and helpful office staff (from experience) and as a private patient, you could probably book an initial video visit within a couple of weeks, so you would only have to travel for the ablation itself.

Jim

[mackemaf]

I see Steven Murray who is an EP at the Freeman.

[LadyLawson]

Dr Gary Wright in Glasgow is excellent.

[Ppiman]

Given the relatively high failure rate, I decided that the high cost was likely not worth it (it would have been a struggle). I am on the waiting list for a pulsed filed ablation, the latest type.

If your symptoms are especially bad, I can't blame you one bit but my own thinking was that paying out maybe £20k is a) way out of my sensible budget and b) a lot to lose if it fails and needs repeating. My symptoms are, currently, bearable and my AF is more complex thanks to many other atrial ectopic beats and LBBB.

If you do go privately, I would choose a centre near to you that has the latest PF equipment, myself.

Steve

[highbury44]

Thank you all for your replies.I have made a few enquires regarding cost and to be honest it was more than I thought.It wouldn't be so bad if it was going to be successful,but obviously there is no guarantee on that point.My AF is ok I guess but appears to come on more frequent that it did which is annoying.So I think I will have wait for my initial NHS appt ,apparently in 4 months,and go from there.

[doodle68]

Hello Highbury , you say you will have to wait 4 months for your NHS appt, you could see an Electrophysiologist privately and within days (look on your local hospital website for EPs then check if they will see you privately) it costs around £200 then they may arrange to get you on the NHS ablation list if appropriate .

Apart from the cost I would not want to have an Ablation privately preferring an NHS hospital in case anything goes wrong not that it usually does.

I paid privately to see my existing NHS Electrophysiologist because my P-AF was progressing and I wanted to try Flecainide before opting for an ablation and my NHS appointment at the arrhythmia clinic was cancelled for 6 months due to COVID . Flecainide didn't work for me and my P-AF continued to progress. Once I decided on a Cryoablation I had to wait 8 months for the procedure.