Do you think surgeons put more effort in with their private patients than NHS?

[EachandEveryone]

Im not going into too much detail or it will be too outing. Last year I underwent a massive gynae surgery. Took longer than expected and there were complications. The gynae team where ob top of it. And ten days in hospital I saw them every day. Even had his email if I had any further questions. The pain was dealt with before it even happened.

This time around it shouldve been straightforward. They acted like it was. The discharge summary was printed before I had the op. The consultant never said two words to me before or after. My pain was horrific so much so that i was on fentantyl most of the night and they still wanted to send me home there and the but I stood my ground. They never once looked under the dressing until I asked them to just saw I could eyeball it myself. I know its early days but it looked terrible Incant find my belly button 😧 if id have paid to see the surgeon would I have at least met him?

Its all changed, hasnt it? Even in the two years since my hysterectomy. No bloods taken this time, no checking of the wound, no asking if I had opened my bowels and no giving me anything to get them moving when I got home. As for blood thinners why only one injection when they specifically told me two? Its like the doctors and nurses dont communicate anymore. I am better than most because I am a nurse and feel like I can speak up but you are still very vulnerable though in that bed.
For the love of god when are pain meds going to be given on time? Its the most basic right not to suffer after a procedure. I know 36 patients between three qualified nurses is horrific but if you are happy and safe enough tp do your own why cant that responsibilty be given to you?

I think probably they won’t let patients do their drugs because it can’t be documented what you’ve taken for audit purposes.

Wow these debates are still
going on as they have done for years.. but I recently went into An NHS hospital for minor surgery, in which I was looked after really well, somewhat extremely well I think everyone moans about them, but they are listening, even when I was discharged they gave me a link to provide feedback online 😄

My family has also received excellent care from the NHS but it does go wrong sometimes and it’s not wrong to complain when the care isn’t up to standard.

I think the NHS can be better because they have experience of it going wrong. Broadly, private hospitals don't get super risky cases and may be a bit bad at dealing with complications. A friend of mine had surgery for the same thing as me, she privately and me on the NHS (it was an ovarian cyst, FWIW). She lost the ovary because it got complicated; I didn't despite it being complicated.

I also found my surgeon was much more up front about the likelihood I would lose the ovary, whereas she literally woke up in recovery to be told it had happened, without ever having had a face-to-face conversation about the possibility.

The other difference in surgery is the anaesthetist. For major private patients, the surgeon can chose the anaesthetist and most alway use another experienced consultant. One of my ops for over 10 hours long and my surgeon says he certainly relaxes and can concentrate more if he is totally confident in the anaesthetist.

Also, in my experience, privately you always get 'your surgeon' not one of the team, which in a teaching hospital could be a less experienced doctor.

Like a pp mentioned, the NHS regularly "outsource" to private providers to lessen the waiting list time. I worked on an outsourcing project and we actually refused to use a certain provider based on the terrible patient feedback and a few clinical risks.