I need some help fellow bloggers!

[MJLS]

I am being referred to St Thomas but have just found out I will still need to pay for the treatment. Can anyone offer some light on this and prices etc or does anyone in Lincolnshire know where I can go for some specialist help???

[MaryF Administrator]

I have never heard of anybody having to pay for treatment! This is a new one on me, is this an NHS referral? Can you give us more information, as this does not quite add up for me. Mary F x

[MJLS]

Hi Mary, I am being referred by the NHS my GP. I emailed St Thomas though and they said:

Thank you very much for your email. We would be very happy to help in any way we can, but we would ask for a referral letter from your GP or hospital consultant for us to proceed in this way, if at all possible.

The London Lupus Centre is a private health care clinic based at London Bridge Hospital. The cost of a new patient consultation is £220 per consultation and a follow up consultation costs £195. Any blood tests or other tests would be extra to this (as a guide, if you required a basic lupus blood screen this would cost in the region of £380).

If you would like to proceed with an appointment, we look forward to hearing from you or your referring physician in due course.

If you would like further information on Hughes syndrome or Lupus, perhaps you would like to visit our website.

Best wishes ~ Alison

She then in another email said that I would still need to pay even if it was a NHS referral.

I can't afford to do this but I need someone who knows what they are talking about to look at my case because at the moment I am having to educate my GP.

x

[MaryF Administrator in reply to MJLS]

The GP has got perhaps muddled between the London Lupus Centre which is at the private London Bridge Hospital....which is of course private and you can self refer.

The confusion can arrive as some of the staff work in both:

The GP could refer you to the one at St Thomas' which is this one: guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/our-... which is and NHS unit and does not require a fee. I hope this helps, let me know. Mary FB