Hi all
Ok I will try and explain the situation as far as possible. This was all pre Covid times.
I was a NHS patient of surgery C for several years.
This practice was difficult for me to get to as I have had to give up driving for medical reasons which wasn't the case when I signed up originally and it is actually rural as there is only a small village near it (above 1 miles away). The practice is fully accessible as I have a condition that I can lose use of my body so need a wheelchair sometimes. Surgery C has really helped me with my dental fears.
However if needed any bigger work, the options came down to being referred for a waiting list of several years minimum or going to a local private clinic as a private patient which insisted on minimum of 3 appointments (assessment, treatment, follow up 5 days later) as a basic that's almost. £400 a time but in some cases I have been sent to the same clinic as an nhs patient where the scans are sent by referring dentist and treatment is sorted in 1 appointment so I don't understand why the big difference. I would struggle to pay for each 3 appointments as needed.
In early 2020, a friend managed to persuade me that I should change to surgery N as it was on the same street as the bus station in the nearest city and they had been with them for years.
I had an initial consultation to assess what might need doing, they would be able to sort out the tooth that needs removed and other minor work. This practice is upstairs and I felt like a piece of meat at best, my appointments were booked for April 2020 which as you will appreciate were cancelled. I didn't feel listened to in various ways. Over the past 18 months my body has gone downhill so I know I will struggle with the stairs.
Surgery C is apparently taking on nhs patients so my question after all that background, if I try to go back to surgery C, will they be able to know that I went to surgery N and had an assessment.
Bonus if you might be able to explain why one practice has to send anything more than a filling to either the waiting list or sometimes to the local private clinic as nhs but preferably as private. I'm confused.
I know that I am very lucky that there is several practices taking nhs patients locally
Sorry that's so long