HELP. Can’t get treatment.

Dogswotsits

My wife has severe pain in her knees which has become progressively worse.  She was due cortisone injections long before lockdown but still can not get them from our local NHS providers.  Some providers (mainly private) are providing this service whilst ours say they have no plans to re-open soon.  I seem to recall that after a certain length of time when the NHS service is not provided a patient could go to another provider including overseas  and reclaim the cost from your local NHS.  Does anyone have any info on this please.

ripplyuk

I used the cross-border healthcare scheme. You need to go out of the U.K. for treatment. I went to the Republic of Ireland. There’s no waiting time needed. You can use the scheme as soon as you’re on an NHS waiting list and it sounds like your wife already is. I used the EU directive route, which I felt was easier and quicker. There’s a form to fill in and then they write back to you within 28 days, letting you know how much money they will pay. You pay for the treatment and send receipts for reimbursement. They will only pay whatever it would have cost the NHS to provide the same treatment so it might not cover all your costs. It certainly didn’t in my case. I have no idea if brexit has affected this scheme.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/nhs-revsd-info-pats.pdf

Ms_Mop_123

My husband phoned the doctors last week to see if he could have one in his knee, he's got OA really bad in his knees.  Doctor told him they are only doing them as a last resort, said if he caught covid having he injection could make it worse, he decided not to have it done.