Tonsillectomy - NHS or private?

[Ferrisbuellersdayoff]

My 5yo child has bacterial tonsillitis every 2-3 weeks at the moment - 10 times in the last 11 months (there were bigger gaps when it started). He's on antibiotics most of the time lately.

His GP has applied for prior approval for surgery from a funding panel (tonsillectomies no longer get automatic funding), but we'll be waiting for at least another month until we hear back about that, and then he'll see an ENT doctor and find out if they recommend surgery. Then I guess (I don't know much about this at all) there's a wait for an appointment for surgery, and a fairly high chance it will be cancelled if it's during the winter.

The question is: if you could afford it, would you go private? It sounds like it would be done and dusted within a month from now to the operation if we decided to pay for it, whereas waiting for the NHS will take a while.

However, I can't shake this sense that somehow the NHS is 'better', less risky and higher quality. I've grown up sincerely believing it to be the 8th wonder of the world.

I'd really welcome other people's views.

If I could afford to go private and stop my child suffering then I would. Quite often private doctors are the same ones you would see on the NHS anyway, just without the long waiting times.

I think I'm heading towards that decision and I guess I'm just looking for validation! I hate to see him so poorly.

Couple of points to bear in mind. The research evidence shows that the sore throats generally recur less frequently over the next couple of years anyway. So although the improvement is a bit quicker if tonsils are removed, doing nothing is an option.

Also the great majority of children who have lots of sore throats don't ever have their tonsils removed. (I am about to publish some research on this)

Hope it goes well.

There is a small chance of

oops forgot to finish that last sentence.

There is a small chance of bleeding after the operation (maybe 1 in 15 children).

I would ask to go on preventative antibiotics until surgery whatever you decide - there’s some much better antibiotics that you only have to get once a day for 3 days every 2 weeks for example.

How much would a private op be ?

Agree that the doctors are the same
Not sure if you’d be away from the main children’s hospitals though?

Ds is now 13, he had a tonsillectomy when he was 4. We went private as the NHS appointment came through just as he was due to start school. He had the op a month before starting school. It cost £2000, we had a private room with en-suite and I was allowed to sleep in a bed next to him. Have absolutely no regrets going private.

Btw, we chose the op because ds also had blocked airways and sleep apnea and I didn’t want him constantly on antibiotics as this can potentially destroy the natural gut biome.

Afternoon - presumably they removed adenoids too?

I would go private if I could afford it without a doubt. I would choose a private ent really carefully though, ideally you want one that specialises in children. They will also more than likely work for the nhs too.
Nhs is great, however we waited ages for ds1 to get his removed on nhs, missing referral letter then got cancelled twice.

We also went private with dd (now 9) she was 3.5 and had tonsilitis every 4-6weeks. We could have had it done on NHS but the first appointment was cancelled and rearranged for months later. So we went private and it was done almost immediately by the same surgeon in the same hospital. Quality of life was improved in the short term but she then unfortunately went on have repeat ear pain, got every bug going, and we realised it was her adenoids which had grown massively and were obstructing. So last year she had them out and it's made a massive improvement she's not been ill in a year!

Again adenoids were taken out privately, same surgeon as before but this time in the private hospital.

We went private with DS1 aged 7 earlier in the summer- he had grommets adenoids and tonsils removed.

Would recommend it

I had a tonsillectomy at 22 which I had done privately. The nhs kept moving my operation back, I got quince twice and was very very poorly. I spent almost 12 months on antibiotics and very poorly.

Once I had been referred by the docs the private hospital had my op booked for 2/3 after. The care was brilliant and it was the best thing I have had done.

Go private if you can!!!

My DS had glue ear and had his adenoids and tonsils out. We had the surgery cancelled on the day twice, it took almost 3 years to get from gp to having it done. If I could of afforded to go privately i 100% would have done just to stop him having his repeated ear infections, delayed speech and sensitivity issues and the money lost paying for childcare he couldn't attend being so ill all the time which ironically would have covered the private fee.

The NHS is so stretched especially in ENT and I realise how lucky we were to be seen as quickly as the above.

Thanks - we've decided to go private and the op is scheduled to take place next week. Surgeon comes highly recommended by someone who really knows their stuff. What's recovery like?

With my sons we had to stay in overnight for monitoring but could leave as soon as he'd eaten and been to the toilet. We were home the next morning, it took around two full weeks for him to recover however that was more than just tonsils. The main thing is to keep them away from bugs etc don't have people visiting with colds as they're highly susceptible to infections straight after surgery. I would say at least a week to two weeks to fully recover.