Hip replacement - private and then NHS?? Is this right?

NHS treatments at private hospitals is a different matter the NHS purchases the time and services. The patient isn't involved at all except for their attendance.

*19avitorl
In the past I was told paying to see a Consultant would mean I would be seen quickly but if I then opted for NHS I would be back on the waiting list, same position as if I hadn't had a Consultant appointment,which seems a fair way to do it.*

Yes, that seems more fair. I will certainly check again with the guy who got me thinking about this, but he was adamant that the £200 has whisked him a good way up the list. In fact, like me, he hadn't got as far as the waiting list, which makes it even more dubious. Lots of food for thought. My post seems to have aggrevated one or two people, which it wasn't intended to do. I just wanted clarity. Thank you to those who understand what I wanted and gave me information.

trisher I've pm'd you.

I was due a hip replacement on March 27th, it was cancelled on March 23rd.
It was taking place at the local BMI hospital on the NHS.
This wasn’t my choice, it was the only option I was given, I would have preferred the local NHS hospital where I had superb care for my TKR.
I rang the hospital 2 weeks ago for an update, they told me they are still under contract to the NHS purely for emergency ops.
They suggested I ring the Consultant’s secretary for more information, that was two weeks ago yesterday, she still hasn’t returned my call.
In February when my op was originally due she told me very cuttingly she was only his secretary for his private patients, when I rang the hospital they said she was responsible for all his patients.

Yes, it also says:

'Your position on a NHS waiting list shouldn't be affected if you choose to have a private consultation.'

I can only hope the guy I spoke to got it wrong somehow.

I don't know if this is relevant - I was waiting for another operation -not hip - on NHS - for over a year. That was last summer. I'd had the problem for years.
In the end we rang the surgeon who also worked from a private hospital saying I would pay.
He rang me back personally and asked if we had private insurance, as follow up could cost more. When I said no, he said he would make me a priority on NHS. So the op. was done a month later.
My GP had advised me to do this - ring him up and make a fuss.

Mellow If you’re anxious to get your surgery done as soon as possible, it might be worth ringing up and saying you’re available at short notice in the event if someone else cancelling their surgery.
MrA did this a few years ago. He was phoned the following week & had his surgery the week after.

I worked on the edge of the NHS many moons ago and this was standard practise. You saw a consultant privately and he bumped you up his list. The lines were very blurred between private and NHS. The best thing was to have your op in a NHS hospital. If something goes wrong, the care is much better than private

41janeainsworth
Mellow If you’re anxious to get your surgery done as soon as possible, it might be worth ringing up and saying you’re available at short notice in the event if someone else cancelling their surgery.

Thank you, but I didn't even get as far as the waiting list because my appointment with the consultant in early May was cancelled. So I'm still waiting for that bit of the process!

When I saw a consultant privately for my first knee (because I was so desperate), when he saw the X-rays he said he would have to prioritise me on NHS as my 'knee joint had reached the end of the road'. However, that felt wrong to me so I did have the op privately. Prior to that I checked the infection rate at our local NHS hospital and the private hospital. Unfortunately the NHS infection control stats weren't great.
annsixty I hope you can have your op very soon. Keep phoning. Secretaries are human. Surely she'll understand. ?

Update... I heard today that my NHS consultant will be ringing me next week to assess my needs and hopefully then I'll make it onto the waiting list. I'm so pleased! And the guy I previously mentioned has Alzheimer's - early stages but maybe that's why he was bumped up the list by the private consultant. Anyway, at least things are starting to move again regarding hips, here in deepest Cornwall.

A friend paid for a private consultation to get on the NHS list of the consultant she wanted to be with instead of the one she’d been assigned to. Worked perfectly. He arranged all the tests she wanted (which to be fair she did need but was waiting for) swiftly on the NHS.

I had an appointment with a consultant for a TKR on 22nd April but, due to COVID, it was cancelled. I've twice called the consultant's secretary to ask when i might be seen and hafe been told that they're still not seeing "elective surgery patients" and have no idea when they will begin. I then investigated paying privately but was told that without insurance, it's upwards of £15,000, plus after care costs. Out of my price range so nothing for it but to wait and hobble.

Prices must have gone up a lot Chewbacca. There were no after care charges after my op and I was given supplies of meds and items of equipment to take home. All included. The quoted price for a total package was printed out and given to me at the first appointment. I noted that the surgeon and anaesthetist got £1200 each. I suppose the rest was for the facilities, dressings, medication etc plus nursing time.

But surely that is so wrong Gagajo?
Quizqueen- nothing wrong with Private Op in a Private Hospital- as long as it is honestly done, on both sides. Jane10 understood it would be wrong to cut queue, pay for a Consultation and then have NHS treatment- respect.

So wrong too if Consutants deliberately keep their NHS lists really long to encourage private consultations and private ops- leaving junior doctors to do all the NHS work ...And then of course, if anything goes wrong - put patient back into NHS to pay the costs.

I must admit, I was a bit taken aback myself Jane10 but this is from the website of a fairly local private hospital:

Private knee replacement surgery in the UK usually oscillates around £11,400, however, it may go up to as much as £15,400. This price usually does not cover the post-operational physiotherapy program. Additional costs also involve the diagnostics before the surgery and ^pre-operational consultations.

Was it a Spire hospital?

Yup

Just checked our local Spire hospital. All inclusive £14540. That includes all aftercare. Obviously, the price has gone up since my last op 2 years ago but certainly no extras to pay.

Jane10 and I had our new knees around the same times, I think.

With my first one I had a private consultation as I didn't know what I should and shouldn't be doing to keep it going until I got to the top of the list - if ever, as the X-ray didn't show how badly it really was. My consultant was quite firm that having the consultation would not get me higher on the NHS list. In the end I paid for that one rather than wait a probable nine or ten months. I think just over £14,000. Prices varied from area to area although all were in Spire.

With the second knee I asked for a named referral in order to get the same consultant, who I knew did NHS work as well as private. This succeeded as he knew my knees and I had the operation quite quickly - and in Spire hospital too! The only difference between private and NHS was that NHS had only two days in hospital rather than four. So, it was a BOGOF knee. £7,000 per knee seems very good value to me!

I was put on the waiting list for hip replacement in February, with a clinic appointment in April and pre-op assessment this week....everything cancelled, of course. I am finding things really hard, and my daughters keep urging me to find out if I could have it done privately. This would take about half our savings, if it could be done.
The added difficulty now is not knowing the future. If I knew the length of the NHS wait, as in the past, I could have a better idea, but it all depends on the control of COVID, which I am very pessimistic about.
I looked here for advice of dealing with my hip some months ago, and got some ideas. Someone said how much a new mattress had helped. I can't find this thread now, but need a new mattress, (writing this at 4am!) and would welcome advice.

Hello allule, I empathise as my hip pain is severely limiting my life at the moment. I haven't seen mention of a mattress, though could easily have missed it. I'd be interested to have the information. If no-one responds here maybe start a new thread asking about the mattress? Hope something changes for you soon. If my consultant tells me next week I'll have to wait, say, a year for the op I don't know how I'll feel. All the best.

After being told my husband was on the "urgent" list for his heart problem and then finding that he hadn't even been put on the list for an appointment, we paid to see a consultant. Husband was immediately rushed into NHS hospital where he was operated on successfully. Consultant had no further input, so benefited only from fee of £100.

No doubt you good people would have been quite happy for my husband to die, as long as the rules had been obeyed!

I was talking about hip replacement gulligranny, not heart conditions. In your situation I'd have done the same.

We've only got one life. If anyone is lucky enough to afford to go private in order to gain some more precious quality of life after years of pain with potentially worse to come then do it. I looked on my pension lump sum as my rainy day money and it was a very rainy day.