Seeing a dermatologist privately

Well I asked my doctor for a private referral to a consultant.

You could ring the Bookings Office and see where you are in the queue and get a rough idea of your appointment date? I used to work as PA to 4 consultant dermatologists. Between them they saw every referral letter that came in and would write on each one ‘routine’ ‘soon’ or ‘urgent’. These letters (paper in those days) went back to the Bookings Office the same day to go on the appropriate lists. If patients rang to enquire then they were told of their allocated priority. If they chose to go privately to be seen I used to give them 2 or 3 telephone numbers so they could ring the dermatologist’s private secretary to enquire about fees and dates. Good luck, whatever you decide. Your quality of life will determine your need.

I went to see a dermatologist privately 4 days ago. The wait was 2 weeks and the cost £200 plus treatment costs. I did not go via my gp. I found him via google and then looked up his reviews, qualifications and experience. He was wonderful and the clinic was linked to the local hospital, the private wing. It was worth every penny

I’m always intrigued b these tv programmes in which someone has had a medical condition for years that has been misdiagnosed or wrongly treated by the NHS. Eg there was a programme about skin conditions a while back in which a young lady had sore, peeling skin, mainly on her face. Even I could see that it was psoriasis because I watched The Singing Detective years ago. The doctor in the programme sorted her out in a matter of weeks. She’d suffered for years because her doctor misdiagnosed it.

My friend rings every single day - to see if there's a cancellation - when waiting on a list. It seems to work (as I bet they get really fed up with her).

Thank you all for your response. I rang the hospital and apparently the consultant has put this into the category of routine which means a very long wait. The very nice person I spoke to advised speaking to my GP who can plead my case as urgent as it is having a negative impact on my life style.
I will speak to my GP next week about a referral to a private consultant.
I can not go on like this. I need to know what the problem is then hopefully find the right treatment. I believe (rightly or wrongly) that once a diagnosis is made treatment can be carried out on the NHS.

Fed up with having appointments put back and probably over a year until I can get my very painful hip replaced. I have bitten the bullet and decided to go private.
I spoke to some people who had had replacements and they recommended a hospital and or a surgeon.
I looked up the hospital of my choice and found that I could book an appointment on line with no referral from my GP.

DH is on a waiting list to see a consultant. We asked Google which consultant he'd probably see locally on the NHS and found out where the same consultant worked privately. We then rang the private hospital and got an appointment within a fortnight for under £300. This consultant is willing to push you up the NHS list once you've seen him privately if you need further treatment and he deems it urgent.
There is now longer to wait for private appointments as those whom can afford it are taking this route more often.

I think youngsters should be advised to take out private health insurance as well as private pensions as soon as possible.

Private health companies can be very restrictive about what you can have done and where ie your choice is limited. Doc friends said it is better to save the money every month and then you have freedom of choice and consultant

I just rang our local private hospital and booked an appointment. £200 for a consultation with the top dermatologist.
Unfortunately for me she misdiagnosed a BCC as ‘no problem there’ so my treatment was delayed. Even private dermatologists can get it wrong but not often.

I'd look up your local private hospitals and browse the info on all of the dermatologists.
Find out when they have their clinics and availability. You don't need your doc to chose the specialist.
Years ago a Dermo specialist said it's not the most popular career so there can be high demand

An update on the situation. My GP sent a referral letter to the local Nuffield Hospital and I heard quickly from them
- to ask whether I was self funding or had insurance!
Told them I was paying for it myself and have now got an appointment with a dermatologist who also works in the dermatology department at the local hospital where I was first referred to. Could be the same consultant I would have seen on the NHS.
The cost is £200 for the initial consultant but a further wait of 6 weeks before he can see me. I was disappointed to have to wait but can't see an alternative.

that would be the same one you would see on nhs. You should look up a private hospital in your vicinity and ring reception and ask to book a private appointment with a dermatologist. I'm afraid it will cost a lot more than £200 though.
You may still get no better treatment than nhs though it would be within 2 weeks in my experience.

They charge a larger bill if they know you have insurance than if you don't.

It is just so so wrong.

I totally respect those who do use private health service, because they feel they have no choice. But the choice should be there to be seen on NHS. And some Consultants very deliberately keep their NHS waiting list VERY long- to encourage force, peopple to go private.

On the other hand - one could be grateful a dermatologist has deemed the case ‘routine’? Not urgent. Not even ‘soon’ (when they put that, it’s thought be routine but ‘on the safe side’ just seen a tad sooner to check all is well). I think I’d be heartened and wait.

Apparently only cancer patients are deemed urgent. I fully agree that someone with a potentially life threatening condition should have priority.
On the other hand it is disheartening to know that I have had this very uncomfortable condition for such a long time and now have another six weeks of itching and burning and broken sleep. I feel that I have missed a whole summer because of it. At 81 I don't want to miss out on anything.
As a diagnosis hasn't yet been made (GPs say they are flumoxed) how can an accurate category be chosen? My GP referred it as urgent because of the level of discomfort I was experiencing.

Is your condition under your breasts, possibly a sweat rash that has become infected.
I had this recently and it was awful. My doctor over the phone prescribed Trimovate which is an antifungal/cortisone/ antibiotic cream. It helped but not a lot. I was about to speak to the Dr again when I spoke to a friend. She suggested I wash the area with warm water with a dash of antibacterial Fairy Liquid. Then make sure it was absolutely dry. I used my hairdryer on cool to be very sure. I then applied the cream and lay down for about 20 minutes to let it sink in. No clothes until it had sunk in. Within days it had improved.. Now two weeks later it's just about gone. I'm wearing my underwear again.
My friend's father is a farmer who uses the solution to make sure his byres were as clean as possible. My friend used it when her children a rash or a scrape.

Has anyone heard of Bleach Baths
I can understand the science behind it.

dermnetnz.org/topics/bleach-baths-in-patients-with-skin-infections

Urmstongran

You could ring the Bookings Office and see where you are in the queue and get a rough idea of your appointment date? I used to work as PA to 4 consultant dermatologists. Between them they saw every referral letter that came in and would write on each one ‘routine’ ‘soon’ or ‘urgent’. These letters (paper in those days) went back to the Bookings Office the same day to go on the appropriate lists. If patients rang to enquire then they were told of their allocated priority. If they chose to go privately to be seen I used to give them 2 or 3 telephone numbers so they could ring the dermatologist’s private secretary to enquire about fees and dates. Good luck, whatever you decide. Your quality of life will determine your need.

The answer here is often "how long is a piece of string"!

Dermatology may be much quicker than other departments, of course, and I'm surprised you have heard nothing, Mazgg, if the GP flagged this up as urgent.

The surgery was very slow here, not the GP but the practice nurse and the receptionist who were both what I can only term as obstructive, but a GP urgent referral resulted in a dermatology appointment within 10 days.

Try phoning the Consultant's secretary.

The cost is £200 for the initial consultant but a further wait of 6 weeks before he can see me. I was disappointed to have to wait but can't see an alternative.

Just seen the updates.
I'm surprised but perhaps it is reassuring in a way.

DD was seen the next day by a private Consultant Dermatologst- the one she would have seen on the NHS!

Have you tried antihistamine tablets, Mazgg?

I take antihistamine every night. I use a cream prescribed by the doctor to wash with. Always dry myself really well and use a hairdrier on a low setting to finish off. I've had antifungal tablets, 8 tubes of daktacort, antibiotics, steroid cream and now use a menthol cooling cream (prescribed) which cools it for about 10 minutes. The skin in dark red, shiny and hard. It extends from my breasts and goes down to my groin, only on my front. My breasts are hard and painful.
Thank you all for the care you have shown and for the kind suggestions.

I presume you've tried everything like changing your washing detergent, not using fabric conditioner, not wearing man-made fabrics, checking to see if it's worse if you eat certain foods.

Apologies if I'm stating the obvious.

Six weeks is a long time if that is a private appointment. Has anyone taken skin scraping for testing?

A friend's DH had a widespread rash which the GP diagnosed as stress eczema although my friend thought it was psoriasis. No said the GP.
She asked for a second opinion and the hospital doctor said immediately that it was psoriasis.

Have you had any changes in medication which you take?