NewUserName

My wife recently gave birth to a son (8 Weeks).
The birth was pretty straight forward but afterwards she has suffered a mild prolapse.

Now without a complete exam, the severity of the prolapse is not yet known.

I want her to go private so she doesn’t have to wait and will ideally see the best qualified person she can.

Does she need to be referred from her current GP or can you just go direct?
We don’t have private healthcare at the moment, but my mother in law (who has offered to pay) does – Will that count?

Cheers.

boxst

Your GP will know the local private specialist and can give you the details. You can just call them, you only have to be referred if you want your insurance to pay.

Make sure your Mother-in-Law knows what she is getting into, private healthcare is extremely expensive. My wife has a recurring illness and the bills for even a 15 minute consultation are shocking. One operation that she had and was only in hospital for 1 day, cost around £30,000. Axa-PPP paid thankfully.

Steve

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Sorry to hear about your wife. Generally you need a referral from the GP, it's only for certain procedures that you can book direct even if you're paying (this is at my hospital, others may vary). Look up your private hospital's website, all the info you need should be there.

My GP charges for a letter of referral but it's always done very quickly. Last time I went I saw the consultant and had had the procedure done within three days of the consultation which certainly beat the six months waiting list on the NHS

Scooby Snacks 23

If you are thinking about taking out a private healthcare policy just fo rthis operation, you need to be careful a they often don't cover pre-existing conditions. Going private as in not taking a policy out but simply paying as you go could end up costing a small fortune.

I note your comment about 'best qualified' but don't forget, almost all doctors/surgeons are NHS people who work privately on-the-side so to speak.

A belated congratulations on the baby by the way

ScoobyDoo555

Or why not go back to the GP and get a referral to the NHS?

You'd be surprised how quickly these things can be addressed (depending on circumstances/pain etc)

Unless actually covered, private is VERY expensive!
WifeyDoo555 works in the private sector - £££££££ ouch!!

Dan

boxst

You can get policies that have medical disregard (i.e. they will pay for the reoccurance of an existing condition). I can't think of any that will pay for a condition that is currently diagnosed but not treated.

Steve

john_s

iTrader: (1)

As others have said, you'll need a referral from your GP to see a consultant privately.

After that, your options are pay for any further treatment (a private hospital will probably give you a package price for it) or after the consultation, you can usually get your case transferred back to the NHS for treatment, having used the private consultation to shortcut the waiting time.

As mentioned above, I don't imagine a health insurer would be too enthusiastic about paying for treatment of a known but currently untreated matter.

trails

iTrader: (41)

Something to remember when you do go see your GP; the greater the discomfort\pain\distress the quicker you will be reffered if you stick to the NHS. Best of luck

RobinSherwood

Congratulations on the new baby!

As others have said yes you do need to be 'referred' by your GP for a private appointment. The reason for this is that if the GP knows about every aspect of a persons healthcare then can make sure that other doctors and healthcare professionals can have all the information they need to give the best treatment and also make sure doctors are aware of all medication a patient is on and to avoid any contra indications etc.,..

A lot of patients 'self refer' to us but we always insist they ask permission from their GP to come, this is in effect a referral as the GP will then usually let us know if there is anything we need to know. We also insist on writing to all patients GP's with details of the examination, diagnosis and proposed treatment.

Also as has been said it is highly unlikely you will get retrospective private health insurance and no your mother-in-law's health insurance will not cover it.

When you say you would like your wife to "ideally see the best qualified person she can" you want to consider if you really mean 'the best' or the best in your area?

On the rare occasions we have people come here we cannot help and therefore refer on to people we believe can, people will often ask to be referred to 'the best' but when we are in London and say for example we then propose to refer them to someone who works in Manchester they often then baulk at it.

On the other hand there are likely to be some extremely good people in your area who can deal with your wife's problem.

I hope that is helpful and makes sense.