NHS after private treatment - can we do this?

[WhirlpoolGalaxyM51]

Hi there

I remember reading in the papers a few years ago that if people have had some private treatment they aren't allowed to get any on the NHS.

We have a situation where about 3 years ago our daughter who was under the care of a local clinic for squint got an eye squint surgery on my insurance through work. It was all a but peculiar and we didn't feel it was followed up very well with the private people, anyway we went back to the NHS clinic a few times (orthoptist) and eventually they discharged her.

Anyway now she is complaining of disrupted vision and so I called the clinic and they said to go to GP get a referral to the eye doc at the local hospital. But I had a sudden panic that as the operation was private she won't be allowed to be seen on the NHS. We no longer have that insurance and anyway the person who did it, like I say, we weren't very happy.

Does anyone know if she will be allowed to be seen on the NHS?

Thanks

[Alfieisnoisy]

It won't be a problem at all. As a nurse I often cared for people with issues that had been treated or partially treated in the private sector.

Your GP will refer your DD and that will be that.

[OddBoots]

I think you should be fine. My mum had some macular eye surgery done privately a couple of years ago and has then been seen under the NHS for cataracts that occurred as a result of the macular surgery.

[Pico2]

I've been referred by a private consultant to their own NHS clinic, so if there is a rule, it certainly isn't uniformly enforced.

[SilverBirchWithout]

Of course she will. Fortunately the NHS treat patients according to clinical need, and makes no judgements (either way) about the ability to pay or cause of the condition.

Unfortunately all too often the private sector opt out when it is no longer easy or profitable for them to continue.

I think you may have misheard some discussions a couple of years ago, when private breast implants were discovered to be faulty and dangerous, and the NHS was considering whether they could justify removing/re operating when the private clinics had been at fault using a dodgy supplier of implants.

[WhirlpoolGalaxyM51]

Oh thanks so much everybody for the reassuring responses!

I do hope she's OK, it's all a bit of a thing when one of your kids has something wrong isn't it, you tend to get all worried about all sorts of things!