Afternoon all
I had a long awaited appointment with my rheumatologist today. On Wednesday I recieved a phone call to say the clinic was cancelled. As it is always a different person every time I attend, I’ve decided to try and get referred to Southend hospital to see Dr Dasgupta.Would it be better to see him privately with a hope that he can treat me on the nhs, or see my gp and ask for a referral,which could take weeks. What do other people do in this situation?
I haven’t seen Sarah Mackie for months. She is away for some reason. I saw a substitute Rheumie who organised a Synacthen Test which was something, as it was abnormal. I don’t really feel a massive need with PMR at this stage. I would do as you are doing if my diagnosis was GCA and I was worried. I.e. follow a star.
I think I need to see someone Jane. Every time I go below 9 I get shooting pains in my head and a sore scalp. Comes and goes.
Yes go Sue! That is worrying. Good luck!
I went to see Prof. Dasgupta privately a few years ago. It only cost £90 and was worth it as he was my third Rheumy and finally got me a proper diagnosis. Unfortunately, after a year or so, I found I was only getting about 10 mins’ consultation with him and most of that was spent trying to remember who I was! I decided I needed someone with a better bedside manner so now see Dr. Hughes and am very happy!
Unusual suzy, not my experience at all and I'm NHS. He rang me at home this week as I was ill and needed advice and there were no clinic slots.
Hi ,
So sorry about your treatment , if you read my post yesterday I would cry some pink tears for you , but that's a different story.
You could try both ways.
See the GP tell them the situation , ask to be referred to this Rheumatologist and ask how long this referral for a change to their list will take , if it is longer than you would want you can go via the private route , although inform your GP you still want the referral. The record of it will show up on your records at private consultation and make it more likely that your are accepted on the consultants lists.
Choosing an introductory consultation with a particular consultant that you want to see and help you ( sad but true) is often the best way to get to see who you really need on the NHS .
You see them quickly , they usually offer to put you on their NHS list or you can request to be added to it if they don't and they usually do it if it is not full.
You jump the queue , and they usually get an NHS appointment for patients they have seen privately quicker , friends who have done it have noted that all of their NHS services that happened since the initial private consultation happened quicker , and they see the actual consultant rather than a big varied bunch of registrars at their regular appointments.
It may be more than £90 and can be upto £150 but to be honest it seems worth it , no matter how you feel about maintaining the NHS , sometimes the occasional private consultation can be just what you have to do to get what you need.
Pain sometimes has to be put before principles.
Thanks for your input Blearyeyed. I think you are right. When I first was ill 5 years ago I had a private appointment with a professor Chakravarty. He then saw me on the nhs but sadly for me, he retired a year later. He was really nice.
Your GP might be able to tell you waiting times for Prof D but I doubt it. You could ring his secretary - she'll know. I'm certain he will see you as an NHS patient afterwards. I have her number if you PM me.
Thank you Terri. Probably best to see him privately and take it from there. Got a gp appointment next week. X
I had an initial 3 month wait for a diagnosis, and so saw a Rheumatologist privately after a couple of days. It cost £200. He then told me to see him under the NHS. I wondered why he offered to see me on NHS when he could have had a private fee! ( I do a direct debit to a Hallamshire hospital charity so that I don’t feel guilty, and it’s a worthy cause) I saw him once more last April, and since then have communicated by email when I had a query. I haven’t been given regular appointments, but as they aren’t physical examinations I felt emails would suffice. Meanwhile I l look at this site for information!
Probably because while they have a good conscience about taking BUPA-type money, they have a conscience about self-payers who are obviously mere mortals 
And private insurance won't cover chronic conditions usually - when it comes up for renewal it will be excluded and you have to go back to the NHS.
Don’t they sign some contract that says they will do a certain number of hours for the NHS. It does seem it is worth their while having an NHS contract so they can use certain facilities. My brother used to be a drug rep for a pharmaceutical company and he said every doctor he went to see who worked privately also worked for the NHS except one who was over seventy. He used to just visit the hospitals and never needed to go to Harley Street!
There are very few rheumies who do solely private - mainly I suspect because they can't guarantee enough patients to cover their insurance costs.
I don't know how reliable it is but this is quite illuminating:
independent.co.uk/life-styl...
and this is maybe more reliable
bmj.com/content/362/bmj.k34...
But I still believe that the deterioration of the NHS started with the removal of pay beds from NHS hospitals. Most of our colleagues felt the same. There are a lot of piggy-backing advantages having both in the same hospital. When I had baby no 2, I got superb imaging monitoring because there was stuff financed for the private wing - that the plebs got to use at silly o'clock when it wasn't being used. And we could buy top-up insurance to bridge the gap between statutory and private medical cover for instances where it made a difference.
I had forgotten about insurance, good point, I am sure that would definitely have an affect on not doing just private. My local hospital has set up a private wing recently and have been advertising it like it is the Ritz. Pity they did not do that for the NHS bit which was put into special measures not so long ago.
I suppose most people go privately to skip the queue, you can’t exactly do that with having a baby! I heard about some NHS hospital in Cornwall, I think, that has got some deal with a private hospital to do their orthopaedics during the winter. As it will be the same old surgeons anyway, seemed like quite a good idea as otherwise the surgeons would be twiddling their thumbs while all the NHS beds were taken up with flu patients. Also there won’t be a load of people in agony not being able to get their new hip or knee as they are not emergencies.
I used to work in a BUPA Hospital & the Consultants usually had a 11/12th Contract with the NHS enabling them to Practice Privately, it’s probably all changed now but we found most people prefer to see a Consultant who still works in the NHS as well, keeping up to date etc
Then there is the fact that rheumies have almost entirely chronic patients - exaccerbations of a chronic condition are the nearest they come to acute medicine.
We gave up our BUPA after l Retired early as they wouldn’t cover the PMR or the Blood Tests, so we made a decision that for anything Urgent the NHS is best as l discovered when l found my Breast Lump l had the best of care & treatment all in a timely manner, I suppose if l wanted a new knee it wouldn’t be so but hey swings & roundabouts.
I gave up BUPA when I was fifty and they suddenly increased the payment by some astronomical amount. My plan was to pay into my own personal ‘BUPA’ bank account. So far I am quids in, in spite of a new hip, visits to a vascular surgeon and rheumatologist. Not to mention physio and osteopath. I don’t have to fill in forms for BUPA either. I must admit the weeks after I gave up paying in I was worried silly some dreadful thing would happen!!
We were worried too but felt that they’d blame everything on the PMR so I’d never be covered & the time on the phone plus the forms!........
I must admit I am very wary of insurance companies in general. If they can think of a way of getting out of paying they will irrespective of whether it is reasonable or not.
I had no problem with Westfield for my Rheumatologist appointment, pre diagnosis. I pay the top level monthly insurance, and daren’t drop in case I need it more as I get older! I use it for dental, two yearly optical, and occasional physio. Haven’t used it for anything else other than one hospital stay, a few years ago.
Oh yes, they will all pay for diagnosis and for the rest of that insurance period. It is chronic illness cover they rarely accept - because they know they won't make more money out of you than you pay in premuims in the long term.
Westfield do not accept claims for pre-existing conditions in the last twelve months, and as you said except for the initial diagnosis, or for optical and dental. I haven’t used the rest of the allowance as I haven’t seen the consultant since. They’re a not for profit organisation with no shareholders.
Thank you ckarkb
Hi Sue. I’d try a private appointment if you can. The long NHS wait in itself is harmful in my opinion. You will feel better just getting an appointment date.
Thanks Bamber. Yes I am going to do that.
You can look at their Profiles on the Private Hospital Website, it tells you where else they Consult & if they work in the NHS at which hospital.
I’ve just been checking out for a Dermatologist as l have some damage to my skin considered ‘Cosmetic’ the NHS won’t touch but l’ve also had Bowen’s Disease (Pre Skin Cancer) so l want a Consultant to possibly see me Privately for what l can’t get treated for on the NHS
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