PRIVATE MRI SCAN

[yorkshiregirl44]

Hi,

Has anyone had a provate mri done in the Lancashire or Yorkshire areas?

Thanks

Christine

[deejames]

You can get MRI scans done privately but in NHS hospitals . in Scotland it works out cheaper than a private hospital but the wait is a week or so . I got mine done within 6 days. Private hospital or otherwise you need a referral from a doctor

[yorkshiregirl44 in reply to deejames]

Sounds like i need to find out more..6 days wait is brilliant. Thanks

[Deborah22]

Yes I had my MR scan done at The BMI hospital , Beardwood, Blackburn. It is run by Alliance Medical. Very efficient , the latest equipment. Great Service.

[yorkshiregirl44 in reply to Deborah22]

Not too far from me...can i ask you if you pay for a section at a time. Im wanting to scan my xervical spine and shoulders,

[earthwitch in reply to yorkshiregirl44]

Yes they do have set "sections" that they do for different conditions and also set sequences that are used for examining different types of tissue (eg one sequence to look at bone, and another sequence that will show up soft tissue inflammation). You probably should discuss with a rheumatologist first though what would be most useful to be done - for example an MRI of your shoulder may not be the best type of imaging to show things up and an xray or ultrasound may be more useful, depending on what the doctor is looking for. Also with the cervical spine, unless you get the brain and C-spine done, it often doesn't show the very top of the c-spine (its usually more a thoracic-cervical series). If you are having problems at the very top of the C-spine at the atlantoaxial joint, then xrays (with head bent forward, and back) are actually a lot better at seeing what is going on.

I've also been in the position where I have had private imaging done (in another country) and the NHS has not been at all interested in it (as well as not being able to put the CDs containing the images into their computers), so it really hasn't helped my diagnosis or treatment, so you need to consider that possibility as well.

If you do want a private opinion, then I'd suggest maybe go for a private rheumatologist first, and see what they advise in the way of imaging, rather than asking for something specific, paying a lot of money, and then not getting any benefit from it.

[helixhelix]

I've never had one done privately, but I did look into it once. I found that you need to have a doctor's referral first, so if you have to get that done privately too then it adds to the costs quite a bit. So do check around as otherwise you're talking hundreds of pounds.

[yorkshiregirl44 in reply to helixhelix]

Thanks, some say that you can go ahead without a doctors referral but i would ask him for one first as see what happens

[Cornishrex]

Not a direct answer to your question but I had mri scans of both hands done about 4 months ago privately. In the South West. It cost me about £500. Then the blood tests cost £600. Then the hospital tried charging me £200 for blood tests I hadn't even had. Then I ran out of private health insurance cover before we even got started on the rheumatologist's fees of £200 per hour ...... (my health insurance cover had a cap of £1000 on out patient treatment...).

This is our future once the NHS collapses. Still, at least I got to see some-one within 7 days rather than 16 weeks which was the estimate on the NHS.

[yorkshiregirl44 in reply to Cornishrex]

Thanks..ib had a look on line and some seem quite reasonable but maube i should read the small print as they dont include any extras

[cathie]

I looked in to this and was horrified by the cost! I had a 12 week wait a year ago and further treatment was hanging on it. but GP referral is needed for private hospital/clincs here in Scotland. Incidentally we ought to be careful not to advertise particular places on the main forum - I think its OK to message people but I know the NRAS ask us not to refer to individual doctors and I think the same thing applies to clinics. Isn't that what messaging is for?

My, I'm on my high horse at the moment!

[dtech]

Bit puzzled as to what you are going to do with the MRI scan once you've got it?

[yorkshiregirl44 in reply to dtech]

Im going to see doctor about shoulders and upperr back,i had scan aboyt 2 years ago and if he does not agree to send me for another one on the nhs i will get one done. Plus i dont have alot of time with waiting around for appointments.

Iv found a clinic today where i dont need referral.

[dtech]

Thing is, who will you show the scan to? Hate to be negative but if the Dr doesn't want to send you for a scan, will he look at one you have had done?

[yorkshiregirl44 in reply to dtech]

The private clinic will read the results and give them to me. If something if something is not quite right i will take them to my GP.

[earthwitch in reply to yorkshiregirl44]

Yes, I thought that would happen too. Unfortunately no. I just got told I had to wait to see the rheumatologist, and when I saw the rheumatologist, they couldn't look at the MRI images because they were on a CD (not the NHS system) and they couldn't put the CD into their computer, so I might as well not have had them done. As far as the report went, it was different to the NHS report that was on file for a previous scan, and they went by the one that was in my NHS file, not one that had come from outside the NHS.

I also had another bit of difficulty with getting a report from a private clinic, in that they wouldn't release it until my referring doctor (which you won't have) gave them permission.

The other thing to consider is that unless you have absolutely pots of money, you will still have to get all your treatment from the NHS, so you are going to have to wait for that anyway.

I have done the private route before thinking it would help, but I would never advise it now.

[dtech]

Ah ha! 😊

[Cornishrex]

It did help me though. I got a rapid private appt within a week, scans and bloods immediately, was then immediately put on methotrexate and the rheumatologist told me to get my GP to refer me back to him on the NHS Choose and Book system. He said by the time I got an appt with him on the NHS the methotrexate would have been given enough time to take effect, if relevant, and we could see what had happened when we met again on the NHS. It's taken me 4 months to get the NHS appt and I go see him again next week. On the downside, it has left me in a bit of limbo with no specialists to talk to in between, as I'm between tracks right now. And it cost a lot, albeit mainly on insurance cover.

All these rheumatologist's do both private work and NHS work, usually in the same geographical area. So my rheumatologist will be able to rely on all the scans I had in the private hospital as he has copies of everything.