Finally got endometriosis referral and have been given choice of Croyden, Homerton or Lewsiham University hospitals.
I'm pretty sure they are all BSGE centres, can anyone give me any tips if they have experience to help choose which one to go for?
I live in Brixton and study at Guys hospital.
Hospitals aren't BSGE centres - some hospitals have them. These are in tertiary care and for highly specialised cases. Do you fulfil the referral criteria? If you have been given choices it sounds like the letter might have come through Choose and Book which is for referrals to gynaecology in secondary care.
Yes, I was in the system already after Endo diagnosis during surgery to remove large dermoid ovarian cyst in April. I was due to have a second appointment in October with Endo specialist (it was a BSGE approved hospital) but have moved to London to study, so I've been in-between systems and had to request new referral. The new GP didn't know what BSGE was and she agreed to refer me based on letter from last Endo specialist, she said she could only refer me to gynaecology and sent me a form to choose which one.
I don't know how to get Endo specialist from the options she gave me though
You can't get a BSGE centre from those options as they will be in secondary care. A dermoid cyst wouldn't come under referral criteria for a centre so did you have severe endo (deep infiltrating) diagnosed?
I was already in an Endo centre because my symptoms have been awful, the specialist suggested lap to see extent as they think on diaphragm and maybe bowell, it just happened to be noticed during cyst surgery, she said stage 3 but I tried the Mirena first to see if I could avoid surgery, and I was due to see Endo specialist again in October, but I moved address.
I understood I could just transfer to another Endo centre (I'm sure my Endo nurse said that) but I'm having to go through whole system again now
Oh I see. In that case yes you should be able to transfer to another centre as you were still in the system. You don't have to go through general gynaecology again as it is already known you have severe endo in which case a GP can refer you. Tell your GP that treatment in a tertiary endo centre is called a Prescribed Specialised Service commissioned by NHS England and not the local CCG. Your GP can refer you to another centre by letter and as far as I know the new centre can then ask NHS England to transfer funding. The treatment specification is below. What I think I would do is phone the centre you want to transfer to and explain your situation to see if they can deal with it for you.
Hi!
You can go to any hospital you wish, thats the beauty of the NHS system so if you want to go to a BSGE centre in Central London you can. Choose the centre you prefer and the consultant and ask the doctor to specify the name of the consultant on your form. If you're happy with the three above then go for it but you can go to any you like. The reason they've specified those three as on the system they are probably the closest to where you live. Good luck x
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