NHS Refuses to Offer Surgery

[AchatAVendre]

Wondering what people's thoughts are on this. My NHS healthcare trust is point blank refusing to offer me surgery for a condition that is normally fixed by surgery that almost everyone agrees that all the clinical signs are present for. They want to "do nothing". The problem is causing issues and pain and there is no way forwards from this opinion. I have reached the end point with my healthcare trust.

I have asked to be referred through patient choices for a second opinion but the issue is now causing so much pain and physical damage that I'll probably end up paying for surgery privately because its taken so long to get to this stage. Around £6k. I can afford it, but obviously I'd rather not take 6k out of my savings for something that just about anyone else would get surgery for. I should also point out that I'm not a smoker and not overweight, and even my GP surgery can't understand it. But no-one is doing anything about it. My GP is quite frustrated but can't really do anything. I had a private consultation and the surgeon said that the surgery in my case has a 99% success rate and he can't understand why I wasn't offered it by the NHS. It affects my mobility and therefore my ability to work. Yes, I will complain to the Ombudsman but realistically it will be many months before they even look at my case, never mind do anything about it.

What on earth do you do in practical terms if your NHS healthcare trust simply refuses to operate? I do think its probably a bit sexist as it appears that statistically men are more likely to get this (non-sex related) surgery than women in my trust and some of the written responses I have had display quite a bias and stereotypical thinking about women and at a couple of points, delve into the realms of fiction in inventing reasons for the issue (it occurred due to a an accident, they wrongly claim its because I'm peri-menopausal and I should just accept fractures and complications arising from them).

They are proposing nothing at all. Their decision is to "do nothing". It is worse now but its taken 18 months to get this far and it was a struggle even to get an MRI scan. I just don't trust them not to waste more time and do nothing yet again.

I have a relative who, after a horrific accident was left in constant agony in one of his legs. Nothing touched the pain, he couldn't sleep or move because of the agony. He begged and begged for the leg to be removed but the NHS refused to do it and just referred him to a "pain management clinic", for all the good it did. In the end he raised enough money to get the amputation done privately and he's never looked back. He has just started his dream job and is loving life. He is quite open about saying if it weren't for the fact he went private he would not be with us now. I think it's awful the way people in chronic pain are just left to "get on with it" by the NHS.

You could try Benenden health if you could wait the 6 months until you can use it. I used them for varicose veins surgery when the NHS refused to do it. They work with the NHS but use private hospitals / consultants and give you a Bupa code. It's only about ten pounds a month as well.

Have you made a complaint to the Practice Manager of your GP surgery?

i agree with others that it’s worth contacting your MP. Go in with the points you made in the last paragraph of your OP, as well as detrimental impact a lack of surgery is having on your life.

You shouldn’t have to put up a fight, but if you can then do. It makes me sad that this is happening to people.

Would your GP be happy to refer you out of area? Wouldn't recommend it right now, but wouldn't it be bad luck that the plate is causing you sudden pain and you attend A&E out of area and explain the situation? The waiting lists are crazy, I've currently just got over COVID should have had my repeat prescription as soon as I tested positive. Tried to ring my GP couldn't get through and when I did they had removed it from the system and I couldn't get an appointment for 6 weeks!

OP…..you’ve said you can afford the surgery, so I’d just pay. I’m a dr in the nhs. It’s on its knees. Most of the great British public have an attitude of ‘I’ve paid my taxes so I’m entitled to my free treatment so I’ll sit and suffer for months or years rather than using my savings’. I’m not saying that you are thinking this OP, but if you have the means to alleviate your suffering then I’d highly recommend that route. I get that it’s not fair, and you are entitled to have it done free but think of the time you’ll spend/waste a)in pain and b)fighting your corner. You only get one life.

I'm in a very similar situation OP, I was 'lost' from the system on 2 occasions which has held up any treatment for over 2 years. I have been in pain all that time, and now overweight as walking is extremely painful. I was seen by a private hospital when all this started, pre Covid (because I'd been in pain for 5 months by then) and was told what operation I needed. My GP then said I couldn't have it done privately and put be back to the NHS where the delays began. I was told at my last consult in February that the operation I need isn't done on the NHS as it's 'old hat' and they would have to justify the cost of putting me under a general anaesthetic! Trusts in other parts of the country still do it and will certainly do it if you pay! Just seems wrong to me.......

Summer of 2020 my DS was assaulted at work by a patient. His nose broken and skull fractured. He needed urgent surgery, night before the surgery his operation was cancelled. They had Covid in the ENT surgical team.

His surgery has been postponed indefinitely, leaving him in considerable pain, anaemic due to the constant bleeding at the back of his nose, facial disfigured and with compromised breathing.

He works in the system and was injured on their time, still not now willing to operate. Bank of Mum paid for private surgery and he is leaving healthcare. The system is broken.

I'm paying attention to this because you are a GP. You are right. I can continue my battle against the NHS after I've paid for surgery (not with a view to any gain but for the sake of other women who are being fobbed off in this way). The joint is becoming damaged too and that can't be surgically repaired. I'll probably go to Turkey because its half the price there, and it can hardly be worse than the treatment I've received from the NHS!

I will report it to the Ombudsman and my MP. I suspect it will be a waste of time.

Oblomov - my GP surgery has been great, it was only them causing a stink that got me an MRI scan in the first place. I think they are as frustrated as I am but even with second opinions, it now needs to go through the patient's own trust for approval!

Sagaris and StopGo - I'm really sorry to hear that. I feel like crying. This is no way to treat patients in a civilised country.

Grumpybutfunny the A&E idea is quite a good one, but the way the injury is, it just wouldn't work out that way for me.

The problem you have is that your consultant doesn’t think you need the surgery, so you’re asking the hospital to go against your doctor and disregard his opinion, something they’re highly unlikely to do. It doesn’t matter what your GP or physio think, they’re not the experts, he is, and he is saying you don’t need it.

Your best bet would be to seek a second opinion from another consultant, preferably at a different hospital, or if you don’t want to wait then go private.

The consultant hasn't actually said that I don't need the surgery. They haven't explained it in any detail at all. They have just said they aren't offering me it but not explained why. It seems that they think I should go away and sit in a chair for the rest of my life and not mind. Lets just say this is a very, very obvious clinical case for surgery and of course the other surgeon, who works primarily in the NHS that I saw privately, thinks it should be done.

I wouldn’t pay too much attention to what the private doctors think tbh, I work with them and they make some very questionable decisions because they’re motivated by money. My fiancée was butchered by a private surgeon who convinced her to have surgery on her knees that she didn’t need on very tenuous grounds, her life has literally been ruined by it. The NHS refused the surgery and preferred the watch and wait approach, but she was convinced by the private surgeon she’d be in a wheelchair if she didn’t it have it done (which was absolutely not true). So that’s why I’m not telling you to ignore the NHS consultant, because I’ve seen the other side.

I would get a second opinion from another NHS consultant or just go privately if you really want it done.

How about go to a medical negligence solicitor & claim for the pain you've been in, any loss of earnings, stress etc. Make sure you get copies of all the documents you might need to prove this first in case they mysteriously go missing...
Perhaps if you sue them it will stop this happening to someone else and you will get the surgery you need?

I had an accident in lockdown. Developed a very serious condition as a result. NHS treatment and consultations in COVID-19 times were going to take months, even as an urgent referral. I asked the GP to refer me to a private consultant. This resulted in an appointment within two weeks. He did a provisional diagnosis and then referred me back into the NHS outpatients and radiology departments as an NHS patient for confirmation, and onward treatment. It is a queue jumper and identified a rare condition. His input has been helpful and enabled me to be under 3 clinical centres in the UK. I had four surgeries last year on the NHS, and I think I would still be waiting for the first NHS outpatient appointment if I hadn't opened my cheque book, and got the ball rolling. As surgery has been unsuccessful in my case, I paid to see another specialist last week privately. He spotted a new diagnosis missed by previous NHS doctors (he is an expert in my condition), and suggested a new surgical referral to get it sorted out that will be done on the NHS. Definitely worth going down this route if you need help quickly.

Its very clear to see that there is a piece of bone/cartilage and a metal plate which have slipped out of position and are causing irritation to the joint and should be removed. I know other people who have had it happen to them and they have had it removed and it is causing my muscles to wear away on one side because its so painful that I don't use them, and this is now causing joint pain on the other side. It is not similar to removing part of a meniscus or "washing out a joint" pointlessly - it is to remove a piece of sharp bone or cartilage and a metal plate in the wrong place that is acting like a little knife cutting away at the underlying structures.

All of clinical indications are there that it should be surgically removed to retain function and prevent disability. The NHS consultant's idea is that I should just use the limb in question less and thats a solution! I am definitely ignoring that.

It really is unfathomable. I suspect there is a big problem in my particular NHS foundation trust.

Because they had a case conference on it so he could get his colleagues to agree so I can't sue them for medical negligence as I can't prove its one doctor going against the grain (they do this deliberately I think) and because the standard in the NHS is so diabolical at times and so variable, it would be almost impossible to prove that no reasonably competent doctor would not have disagreed with the diagnosis. Its really very hard to sue the NHS and you need one of those no win no fee firms to take it on because they have near unlimited resources, and those firms only take on very easy cases.

I'm so fed up with the NHS. It's such a postcode lottery. There are some things our trust does well, but they just don't do grommets. My youngest DS, who is starting school in Sept, has severe glue ear, to the point he has hearing loss and speech and language impairment. We saw an NHS ENT consultant who basically lied and said his hearing and speech is improving and they won't take action.
Luckily for us, my lovely in laws offered to pay for us to go private and he had grommets put in today in a neighbouring county. It is literally a 5 min operation but is likely to have an incredible effect on our little boy's life. The private consultant says he sees a lot of kids from our area as they can't get the op on the NHS. I am so so grateful we could do this, so many can't and it is so unfair. So I feel your frustration OP, fingers crossed you find a solution. I understand that the decision to offer an operation, or not, can have such far reaching implications for people's lives.

Well it's in shit state, many surgeries are not being offered now that would enhance people's lives and save them living in immense pain unfortunately. Presumably if they had a board and no other medical professional challenged it then there must be a robust reason- unfortunately that reason won't be your healthy but will most likely be monetary. I'd write to PALS and ask for access to the minutes of the meeting or for the documentation relating to the decision. If they can't provide this then I'm not sure if a FOI is still workable for personal data but worth a go. In the meantime I'd pay for the surgery.

That is absolutely awful.

Have you looked into having the surgery privately in France or Spain? I had cosmetic surgery in France when I lived there and it was quite a bit cheaper than the U.K.

Yes, I'm considering that too. But Turkey seems the best option so far. Also with Turkey I could literally get it done next week.

Had a similar problem

I was told the only effect treatment for me would be a total hysterectomy... But I was told that unfortunately this is no longer available on the NHS so I am be referred on to have a look at my options.. it was highly suggested I go private.

Unfortunately I don't have the funds

You are completely mad to even give going abroad a moments though. If you have the money get it done by a surgeon you choose who is an expert and will offer you the proper follow up. It sounds like it’s a knee op, there are plenty of excellent knee surgeons around. Don’t go abroad, you simply don’t skimp on healthcare when you can pay to get it done here

If you feel you have not been given a fair consideration or explanation go back to Pals. Do you have copies of your notes r3cording the case conference?