Any other options for getting MRI, when local GP has said they are not available in this area?

boots_babe

Hi,

Long story short, my dad's Parkinson's nurse said he should ask his GP to send him for an MRI of his lumbar spine. His GP this week has said he's very sorry, but that in this geographical area, the GPs are not allowed to send for MRI lumbar spine scans. 

MRI scans of other body parts they can request, but not lumbar spine. The GP said that if they lived 15 miles away in the next town, those GPs CAN send for a lumbar spine MRI.

Seems very odd to me. I know certain treatments have a 'postcode lottery' but cannot see how this can be the case for an MRI scan in order to get a diagnosis.

My parents are willing to pay privately for the scan (not that they can afford to), but they say they would still need a GP referral first and so are stymied.

Does anyone know if there is anything else they can do in this situation, to obtain a referral please?

Many thanks.

Brie

Have you/dad asked the GP about getting a scan done privately??  

When I needed a knee replacement the GP was very slow to do a referral, in part because it was going to take so very very long to get anything with the NHS.  She was much more willing when I also asked for a private referral letter as well.  I was lucky to have medical cover at work at that point so I was able to get the whole thing done for the grand cost of £300 to me in less time than it would have taken to get my first appointment down the NHS route.  

Other thing to do is to ask the nurse how to proceed.  There may be something that the Parkinson's association (I assume there's one) might know about or be able to assist somehow.

Slinky

My OH had a seizure and we paid for an MRI scan privately on his head without a referral. I think it was about £300 last year.

As is happened I then fell down the stairs and ended up having a brain scan on the NHS the day before his. Like buses. None forever then two in two days.

Stick MRI lumbar spine scan into Google and see what comes up for your area.

Flugelhorn

It may well be that referral for this investigation can only be via consultant, if the nurse is working on behalf of the consultant then perhaps she can discuss with them to see if they can refer. 

DullGreyGuy

boots_babe said:

Long story short, my dad's Parkinson's nurse said he should ask his GP to send him for an MRI of his lumbar spine. His GP this week has said he's very sorry, but that in this geographical area, the GPs are not allowed to send for MRI lumbar spine scans. 

MRI scans of other body parts they can request, but not lumbar spine. The GP said that if they lived 15 miles away in the next town, those GPs CAN send for a lumbar spine MRI.

Seems very odd to me. I know certain treatments have a 'postcode lottery' but cannot see how this can be the case for an MRI scan in order to get a diagnosis.

My parents are willing to pay privately for the scan (not that they can afford to), but they say they would still need a GP referral first and so are stymied.

Does anyone know if there is anything else they can do in this situation, to obtain a referral please?

If they cannot refer directly for an MRI then they should refer them to the appropriate consultant that will in turn do a referral for the MRI. 

You may or may not need a referral to get a private MRI but who's going to interpret the report for you? Having recently had a couple (funded by insurance) the reports were not the clearest thing to interpret what they meant and what, if any, action would be required as a consequence. The much longer report was on my foot which the consultant said shows various minor issues but as I wasn't troubled by them then watching brief whereas the short report on my hand meant intrajoint injection required. 

EnPointe

DullGreyGuy said:

boots_babe said:

Long story short, my dad's Parkinson's nurse said he should ask his GP to send him for an MRI of his lumbar spine. His GP this week has said he's very sorry, but that in this geographical area, the GPs are not allowed to send for MRI lumbar spine scans. 

MRI scans of other body parts they can request, but not lumbar spine. The GP said that if they lived 15 miles away in the next town, those GPs CAN send for a lumbar spine MRI.

Seems very odd to me. I know certain treatments have a 'postcode lottery' but cannot see how this can be the case for an MRI scan in order to get a diagnosis.

My parents are willing to pay privately for the scan (not that they can afford to), but they say they would still need a GP referral first and so are stymied.

Does anyone know if there is anything else they can do in this situation, to obtain a referral please?

If they cannot refer directly for an MRI then they should refer them to the appropriate consultant that will in turn do a referral for the MRI. 

You may or may not need a referral to get a private MRI but who's going to interpret the report for you? Having recently had a couple (funded by insurance) the reports were not the clearest thing to interpret what they meant and what, if any, action would be required as a consequence. The much longer report was on my foot which the consultant said shows various minor issues but as I wasn't troubled by them then watching brief whereas the short report on my hand meant intrajoint injection required. 

exactly this