cataract operation phobia and concern

Gers

Ibrahim5 said:

Maybe we could agree that the patient has the final say unless they are nearly dead.

No, the patient has the final choice not the final say! If only Plan A is on offer then the patient can choose to say yes or choose to say no.

kirtondm

Sorry can't agree the patient does not have a 'right 'to have the operation done under a general it is a preference / request and must be taken into account but it is for the person performing the operation to decide on the day whether to go ahead or not.

Ibrahim5

General anaesthesia is widely available. You can't say it's off the menu today or we have run out. If the patient insists on a general anaesthetic they will get one. The surgeon isn't normally bothered. If it's a planned list of local anaesthetics the patient may have to return another day for a general anaesthetic.

Gers

Ibrahim5 said:

General anaesthesia is widely available. You can't say it's off the menu today or we have run out. If the patient insists on a general anaesthetic they will get one. The surgeon isn't normally bothered. If it's a planned list of local anaesthetics the patient may have to return another day for a general anaesthetic.

Are you a surgeon?  What are you basing your assertions on?

elsien

Ibrahim5 said:

General anaesthesia is widely available. You can't say it's off the menu today or we have run out. If the patient insists on a general anaesthetic they will get one. The surgeon isn't normally bothered. If it's a planned list of local anaesthetics the patient may have to return another day for a general anaesthetic.

More likely another year, at the moment. I have clients who need GA as the procedure genuinely can't be done any other way, and they have been waiting for 18 months since the procedure was first agreed. It really isn't as simple as you are making out. 

Ibrahim5

It's impossible to say as there are lots of different private providers. Each area will have to have a system of doing general anaesthetics. All the major hospitals will do them. So the waiting list maybe shorter or longer for general anaesthetics. They are all done as day cases so a long term hospital bed isn't needed. They are still part of the NHS which has always been used as a political football.

PterionPterion

Ibrahim5 said:

It's impossible to say as there are lots of different private providers. Each area will have to have a system of doing general anaesthetics. All the major hospitals will do them. So the waiting list maybe shorter or longer for general anaesthetics. They are all done as day cases so a long term hospital bed isn't needed. They are still part of the NHS which has always been used as a political football.

In theory you are correct. In reality far from it. Private providers are even less likely to provide general anaesthetic. They have always preferred the easier cases and leave the complicated ones to the NHS. 

The waiting times are a post code lottery, some areas the wait is less than 3 months in others more than 18 months. 

The patient has a choice to accept or decline treatment not demand. Of course GA is available if the consultant deems it necessary but if the patient declines surgery there isn't an alternative rapid pathway. It will be arranged in  the next available GA listing and that will be a longer not shorter wait time. 

kirtondm

As a point of intrest most of the larger private providers around here will do under GA but the px will have to wait. They save them up and when they have got enough will do a GA list.

Bizzarrely our local NHS hospital has just bought a local private hospital so not sure what thats all about!

Ibrahim5

Urgent operations are much more likely to be done under GA. So if you are trying to fill up a list a GA cataract maybe called earlier. Lots of hospitals just mix them up so the patient can decide on the day. Financially failing private hospitals are often bought by the NHS. There aren't many people who want to buy them.