Swapping between NHS and Private for treatment

GustyGardenGalaxy

For the past couple of months I've been suffering from a medical condition for which I needed to see a specialist because the waiting list for my NHS (I live in Wales) was over 6 months, so I opted to go private. I found somebody suitable, but in England - my GP wrote a letter of referral and the specialist, after seeing me and doing some physical tests, stated that I needed a couple of MRI scans to rule out some of the most likely causes.

 So I had the MRI scans and no issues were found. All well and good but the cause of my condition remained unknown.

  The specialist then recommended that I have quite a number of blood tests (testing about 12 different things) and he wrote to my GP with this recommendation.

  On speaking to my GP he (politely) stated that he couldn't authorise the tests on the NHS because I was 'swapping and changing' between private and NHS treatment, I guess the NHS frown on this even though I am at least partly saving them time and money by seeing the specialist for the initial private consultation and MRI tests ........

  I wasn't surprised by my GP's response but it was of course disappointing.

  When I told the specialist about this he said that the response from my GP was very rare.

  I guess that paying for the blood tests is my only option now? I could write to my GP and politely air my disappointment but I guess that won't get me anywhere.

 

 

prettyandfluffy

You could try to find out if your consultant also has an NHS practise and if so, whether they would be willing to see you as an NHS patient.  I have done this in the past without any issues.

GustyGardenGalaxy

prettyandfluffy said:

You could try to find out if your consultant also has an NHS practise and if so, whether they would be willing to see you as an NHS patient.  I have done this in the past without any issues.

Nice idea. Thanks, I'll try that.

Will that work though as I'm in Wales and the specialist's NHS trust is England?