Had a bill for hospital meeting I didn't know I'd be charged for. What should I do?

kazzah60

I think that the OP MAY have some cause to complain
DEPENDING on the reason for the referral
IF ( and it is a big IF) the referral was to see a specialist over SUSPICIOUS moles then the NHS has a two week turnaround on seeing people with suspicious moles
I visited my GP about a different matter and casually mentioned that my friend thought I should ask about a mole on my leg
this was Friday morning

at 2pm the SAME afternoon - I was called by the local Hospital for an appointment to see a consultant dermatologist the following wednesday ( 3 working days later)

at that same clinic appointment the mole was removed and sent for analysis

8 days later i was called at 6pm thursday evening and offered an appointment for 8 am the next day ( friday - 10 working days after consultation) and was told it was in fact a malignant melanoma
and was booked for further surgery the next day ( saturday)
the whole process took less than 3 weeks - I commented to the Dermatologist about how efficient the service was and was told that the Government has a 14 day target which had to be met for suspicious mole examination

so if this was the case for the Op - then his GP SHOULD have referred him via the NHS and NOT privately unless the Op specifically asked for a private referral.
of course - I am assuming the reason for the visit was concerning suspicious moles.

Apples2

Good Lord!!

Weekend finishes in 10m mins

mountainofdebt

Mine'sAPintPlease wrote: »

I assumed it was a NHS referral, but I've learnt an expensive lesson.

When Junior had to see the consultant privately, he was referred by the GP but we were fully aware that it would be us that was paying for the consultation.

As has previously been mentioned, at the time of booking the initial consultation we were asked how we were going to pay.

soolin

kazzah60 wrote: »

I think that the OP MAY have some cause to complain
DEPENDING on the reason for the referral
IF ( and it is a big IF) the referral was to see a specialist over SUSPICIOUS moles then the NHS has a two week turnaround on seeing people with suspicious moles

.

It is immaterial though if OP requested a private consultation then they pay for it. NHS waiting lists (or lack of) make no difference, it is still the right of any patient to ask to see a private consultant and pay the relevant bills.

Zandoni

dmg24 wrote: »

You are making yourself look very silly now. The four figure sum refers to the whole course of treatment. The £100+ refers to the initial consultation. In post #16 the OP acknowledges that the post I quoted is the one in question.

It's ok to admit you were wrong ... and then of course to apologise to Apples2!

So I don't need to apologise then.

It's ok to admit you were wrong you know, don't need an apology though, I'm bigger than that.

Mark_Hewitt

Patients being sent to private hospitals, funded by the NHS is very common, and the OP would have had no cause to think they were actually 'going private'.

They are not to know how the NHS funding works or if they are on the "waiting list initiative" or not, nor should they have to.