Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-27 10:44:36 +0100, magwitch said:

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-26 22:27:31 +0100, magwitch said:

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2008-06-26 18:32:05 +0100, Roland Perry said:

In message 486177d1@qaanaaq, at 23:40:17 on Tue, 24 Jun 2008,
Andy Hall remarked:
One can consult with virtually any consultant doing NHS work on a
private basis. The important thing is to check the
credentials and track record of the individual.

And when the track record is exemplary, and they recommend
treatment in an NHS hospital, who do you do then?

Choose the private hospital or private faciity at which they also
work after checking its credentials

A consultant friend of mine says that with private care you just get
the consultant (however skilled or distuingished) what you don't get
is the team of various professionals who work closely with him in
the NHS.

On the contrary. In respect of a particular exercise, I checked
that precise point with all of the individuals concerned, especially
how often they had worked together. My findings were quite the
opposite.



With a private hospital's operating theatre and rooms (however
plush) the visiting medical staff more or less rent the facilities
and then go their separate ways leaving the patient's progress to fate.

I found that not to be true either as have many friends and relatives
who have eschewed the high infection rates and poor standards of the
NHS.

Two case histories:

The first was an old friend of my mother who, like my mother, had
arthritis in her knees and went to her NHS orthopaedic consultant. He
said that a knee joint replacement would not be advisable for her (on
weight and general health grounds).

The private orthopaedic surgeon had no such qualms, so after paying
him the £30,000 fee, she had the op. After 3 weeks, an infection set
in (this was treated on the NHS as the private consultant/hospital
didn't want to know) and 6 weeks later she had her leg amputated above
the knee, this was so traumatic to her that she literally lost the
will to live and died a few days later.

Both examples are ridiculous.

The correct course of action is for the patient or their family to take
responsibility for themselves and to seek second opinions in both cases
as well as researching the risks involved.

The fact that there was such an obviously wide variance of opinion
should have rung a very large warning bell. Whether one was an NHS
consultant and the other not, can have the opposite connotation to the
private consultant being on the make as you are implying. It can
equally be the NHS not being willing to fund this procedurefor someone
of these QALYs.



The second was my mother's cousin, who'd had a routine hernia
operation privately with the usual post-op overnight stay. He got up
in the middle of the night and fell over and knocked himself out on
the way to the ensuite bathroom. As nobody checked on him during the
night (private room) he lay there for 7 hours. He spent 6 weeks on a
NHS intensive care ward, as he'd sustained some brain damage (due to
being left unconscious on the floor, not his head wound) and wasn't
able to live independently again.

I know of a similar story in a local NHS facility. The difference was
that the individual contracted an infection and is no longer with us.





Well losing a mother and providing 24/7 care for one's father
certainly burst my friend Jenny's and second-cousin Michael's for them.

Anecdotal information isn't very useful.

Before undertaking a clinical procedure, it's the responsibility of the
individual to check out the facility and the personnel involved and to
cross check that in the profession to determine track record. That
is more indicative of likely outcome.




Reading through your first callous reply was bad enough, but here it is
again!