Local consultant not agreeing with London consultant

[Csb92]

Recently my son had day surgery in a London hospital. The outcome was that he had acid coming up from the stomach and causing damage to the eosophagus. His London consulant (ENT) has prescribed medication & sent a letter to our local consultant for my son to have a PH balance study done. I received a call from the local consultant (ENT) today & she doesn’t think it’s in the best interest of my child to have the next procedure done & she will pass on my sons notes to another peds doctor (gastro) for a 2nd opinion. My question is, can the local consultant over-rule the London consultants wishes? I have also received the letter from the London consultant on what he’d like for my son to have done. My son is 7yrs old. Thank you :)

Yes one consultant can’t make another do something they don’t agree with. You can always ask the London consultant to do the procedure but maybe a third opinion is a good idea? The local one might be right?

Who is the lead healthcare provider? We are under the Brompton for our consultant and investigations but use our local hospital for emergent admissions- they always refer to what the Brompton wants.
Could it be they want the London hospital to do the procedure themselves?

I would like my son to have it done. Only because his condition can turn to Barrett’s eosophagus as he gets older. And he’s on ranitidine to lower the acid. This is twice a day before meals. So it’s going to be an on-going thing that won’t get any better as he gets older. I asked for our local consultant to arrange the procedure so that we didn’t have to travel back to London but I would if our local consultant doesn’t wish to do so. I’m not saying either of them are right or wrong but when it’s your child you just want answers 😢 x

The study is quite invasive so I can see why the consultant is reluctant. In our hospital if a ph balance study is needed then Gastro would be involved anyway as the specialists so it makes sense that he has asked them for an opinion. Will the results change anything? They already know he has acid coming up and are treating it, do you know why they want to do it?

the cobblestoning on his eosophagus is quite bad so I think for long-term care for my son maybe they want to see hoe much acid is coming up as the ph study measures that, depending on the results of that he will need stomach surgery.

Who is the most senior consultant? Is the London consultant from a specialist centre e.g. the Brompton?

I’m honestly not sure, we was referred by our gp to the local consultant then she referred us to the London consultant. We saw the London ent and then he wanted my son to have a camera down to have a look etc so we went back up a few months after and now so we don’t have to go back
Up he’s asked the local ent to do the ph study so we didn’t have to travel back. It was only really for the travelling that he’s asked the local one