Laparoscopy costs in NI?

[Astro22]

Hi all,

I just came back from a private consultation (my doctor urged me to get one if possible at this rate) and after being jittery about it all week it went really smoothly! The doctor wasn't able to do an internal ultrasound (getting sent to physio on the NHS for that), but recommended that an MRI is far cheaper than a laparoscopy and now i'm just waiting for a scheduled time. I'm really happy with how things are coming along so far, but I'm also aware and MRI isn't guaranteed to be effective. I've had extremely bad pain that birth control has been sort of handling but even then has me in pain daily, and while I'm glad there's nothing else to worry about, it's kind of disheartening to when xrays and ultrasounds say there's no visual sign anything's wrong.

If the MRI does pick up anything, I can ideally get a lap on the NHS and bring them the results, but maybe I'm jumping the gun but after no sign of any internal issue I'm worried if I should be prepared for that to not work out. Does anyone know the rough rate of laparoscopy in Northern Ireland? I've been warned it isn't cheap (possibly more than a hysterectomy's cost from the sounds of things, and that's already more than I can afford) but I may have to start prepping. Any advice or heads up would be appreciated!

[newstart2020]

Have you had a look at N ancy'sNook on FB? It's a good place to start for info on diagnosis and treatment pathways, includes a list of member-recommended surgeons.

An MRI with contrast might show up endo, it might not... I had an MRI done here in Hillsborough and it definitely didn't pick it up properly, I think it was £300 a few years ago. It's about the expertise of the person taking and reading the scan. It might say you have none, when you do have it, or it may show it all up and be a very useful guide for a surgeon. If you can get an MRI done on the NHS that is amazing, ask for a copy of the full report (if you decide to go private for surgery, they'll need a copy. If you get it done privately, ask them for a cd with the whole scan on it, they should give it to you without extra charge.)

Usually these days, noone does exploratory laps, consultants go by your symptoms (keep a diary) and also possibly a good MRI if you can get one. There's an excellent place in London doing MRIs but my word it's £750 for two scans. Saying that, ultrasounds also can either pick it up or not. The lap you get should also be the lap that removes the endo.

NI NHS waiting list for lap surgery is at least 1-3 years depending. If you have the resources at all to consider private sector, if you can, do a bit of research on consultants - see how many surgeries they do in a year, whether they're officially trained in lap surgery, whethr they're working in a centre of excellence, whether they always aim to remove all of the endo or if they like to leave some behind (conservative surgery), whether they perform mostly hysterectomies or do complex endo surgery, do they follow up on patients to see how the surgery has worked etc.

NI doesn't have a centre of excellence, the guy doing the HSCNI surgeries in Belfast at present had really good training in England, but he may favour conservative surgery whether you decide you want conservative surgery or not. (Best surgery is the first surgery, etc.)

Surgeries in England can cost between £8-25k, plus your accommodation, travel costs etc. It's insane how much it costs now, depends on who you pick for your surgery, whether they need e.g. a bowel specialist, whethr you choose the robot assisted surgery or not etc.

Happy to answer any questions if i can, tho my opinions are definitely not objective!

[Behind_Hazel_Eyes]

Hi I am currently looking at a private lap. I was told by the consultant it would be approximately £9,000. That's without bowel involvement. If you have bowel endo you may have to wait for the NHS as that requires an additional surgeon to be present. The wait list through for NHS treatment from what I understand is years. I have been waiting for an MRI with the NHS since last August. I gave up and paid privately, £400.