Operation on NHS and then move to private room

[sunglasses123]

Hi, need some urgent advice please. My DM had a fall and has broken her hip, she is late 80's but otherwise fit and well. They want to operate today and my question is can she then be moved to a private room in a sister hospital or even to a completely private one and they take over her care?

The hospital she has been taken to is pretty grim and marked overall as inadequate. Finances are not an issue.

[PandaandCat]

I don't know - maybe call her GP and local private hospital and see what they say. I would have thought if she's stable enough it's possible.

[sunglasses123]

Thanks Panda. I spoke to the local NHS hospital with private rooms and honestly they were clueless. Eventually I discovered that they didn't have any rooms not that they couldn't do it although the women I spoke to wasn't sure... she said the Reservations team are not 'around' today.

Getting very frustrated regarding this. Surely someone must know and this is a revenue generated opportunity for the hospitals yet no one really knows and is that bothered!

[Montybojangles]

A fractured femur in the elderly is high risk, so a quick move to private care is not necessarily a good plan. The best person to discuss this with is the consultant in charge of her care, as ultimately they are responsible for her care. Will they have admitting rights to the private hospital? Who will review her if she becomes unwell? The NHS hospital will have physiotherapists who deal exclusively with this type of post op patient and are highly skilled. There are elderly care teams who will be involved also, and anaesthetists for pain management. All of this will not necessarily be available in other facilities. A nice private room with doilies on your dinner tray is not necessarily that important when you are recovering from a MASSIVE trauma as an 80+ year old woman. I’m saying that as a nurse of 20+ year who has worked in both nhs and private hospitals. I personally wouldn’t be moving my elderly relative in this scenario to a private facility until they were well out of the woods.

[Greybeardy]

Depends a lot on the local private set-up for dealing with emergencies/unwell patients. ‘Private’ doesn’t always mean ‘better’ for people with significant medical issues. A fractured neck of femur is a major injury for most people who suffer it and even if there is local provision for your mum going to the private sector the team looking after her will want to be certain that she’s fit and stable enough post-op to continue her rehab there before transferring. Best bet may be to talk to her surgeon (or if she’s seen an orthogeriatrician then they may be able to advise too) and see what they think. Hope the surgery goes well.

[lazymum99]

We had exactly the same scenario a few years back. Elderly mother fell and fractured her hip. Taken to A&e and admitted.

The only difference was that it was a hospital that had a private wing. We organised moving her there. not sure about actually transferring hospitals. You would have to sort out a private ambulance to do that.

[lazymum99]

Also we moved her before the operation and she was operated on privately. There was health insurance involved. I wouldn't be surprised if the surgeon was the same one who would have done it on the NHS!

[sunglasses123]

Thanks all. The current hospital is marked Inadequate and is horrible. People rushing around like headless chickens. My query to one of the nurses was written on the back of a kitchen towel as she couldn’t find any paper and she borrowed my pen! This doesn’t bode well and the wards are vile.

[Velveteenfruitbowl]

I would call up a private hospital about having the operation done there.

[SleepyKat]

Ring the local bmi hospital if there is one.

[Toddlerteaplease]

Private does not always mean. Eat. As a pp said, the NHS is fully geared up for this type of care. In a way that a private hospital is not. As a nurse I also wouldn't want a patient like that tucked away where she can't be seen. Our spinal surgeons have pulled out of our local. private hospital. They were having to borrow our staff because their own didn't know how to look after spinal
Patients.

[granadagirl]

The consultant your mum is under
Is probably consulting at a private hospital as most do
Google his/her name, it should come up if they do private hospital consulting.

No doubt she’s had it done by know??
What part of the uk are you from

[Toddlerteaplease]

• mean best!

[Greybeardy]

Writing on hand towels is not at all uncommon & doesn’t reflect the quality of the hospital at all!

[Toddlerteaplease]

@Greybeardy I do it all the time.

[sunglasses123]

Thanks once again all. I am going to the hospital tomorrow. It’s West London and she has already had the operation but honestly the NHS isn’t a holy grail far removed from criticism. It’s an inadequate hospital, would anyone want a loved one there?

[sunglasses123]

Yes the consultant does seem to do private work although they gave me another name last night. I tried to contact that person through their secretary, no answer. I tried to contact BMI, completely hopeless, took a message and I have had no reply from anyone since so I need to go down there tomorrow and try and eyeball a few people. I just want her comfortable and a ward full of noise, people shouting on mobiles, visitors more than the two allowed because the cultural differences means that the staff aren’t comfortable telling people there are just too many family members turning up at one time. I don’t want to mention the hospital but it’s a failing hospital with a terrible reputation in West London..