healthchoice uk: A warning

[Olifin]

My son had a singles measles jab with this company last October and we paid £100 on the day for the next jab (Rubella) which was due to take place yesterday. We turned up for our appointment but the place was deserted and none of their phone numbers work.

A quick Google has revealed that other people are in the same situation. According to who you believe, healthchoice uk have either gone into liquidation OR are actually being investigated for fraud.

Meanwhile, I am £100 down and my son has not had his Rubella or Mumps jabs. I can't afford to pay again for the Rubella single so it looks as though he'll have to have the MMR anyway, which is precisely what I wanted to avoid

It seems the company's website is still up and running (though e-mails get bounced back) so there's nothing to stop more susceptible consumers printing off the registration form and sending it off with a cheque for their first vaccination...

Just wanted to put this warning out there in case anyone is currently looking at this clinic as a possible provider for their child's vaccines. STAY WELL AWAY!

What worries me more than anything is that I have no way of knowing if my son's 'measles' jab was legitimate at all

my son was due to have his mumps injection,when i rang for appt they told me that there was a delay,but would be getting it in,i am now really upset to think that when my son had his last injection at dartford for rubella i paid them £155 up front for the mumps injection.Even if they didnt know then that they were unable to supply the mumps they do bloody now,so why aint they refunded everyone,We had put our trust in them so they should be abilging back

To all those of you who have paid money to Health Choice uk they are currently in liquidation, this is being dealt with by a company called Abbott Fielding.
I have spoke to them today to find out how to make a claim for monnies we have paid because it is for a service from them we are classed as unsecured claimants and so therefor probably won't get our money back.
The nice lady on the phone told me that their report would be available soon on the above company and she will be sending me a copy of this, in this report there is a form for you to fill in for any money you have paid them. She said fill it in when you recieve it and send back to try to get your money. Personally i wouldn't hold out much hope but at least if you fill it in you've maybe got some chance.
Their contact details are;_
Abbott Fielding
16 Hatherly Rd,
Sidcup,
Kent,
Da14 4bg,
Tel: 0208 302 4344.
Just give hem a ring to get a copy of the report.
We can but try. I hope this gives clarity to all those who did'nt know what was happening.
(Smile)(hmm)

My eldest son who is now 2 1nd a half has had his measles and rubella jab with healthchoice. On our last visit they wanted the money up front for the mumps jab, which I said I wasn't going to pay as they didn't know when it would be available. Luckily for me I didn't pay for the mumps jab, but still desperately need to get it done. Also my youngest son has just turned one so need to get him immunised now. Is there anyone having any luck getting their children immunised elsewhere????

Is it safe to give the MMR if your child has had one or two of the single vaccines?

The NHS advice is that it is safer for children to be vaccinated twice than not vaccinated, even if they have had 2/3 single jabs, as long as the MMR is given at least four weeks after the last single jab.

Hello all - I've only just seen the findings on Healthchoice Uk and we are totally appalled by this. We have fully immunised our eldest child (who is now 9) and are on the final booster mumps vaccine for our youngest (who is now 6). Unlike some people who have not lost any money, but what We are worried about is the credibility of the vaccines we have purchased in the past! I too have tried to contact HCUK and like many others have not got anywhere. I must admit whenever we visited a HCUK centre we were always happy and felt it was a professional service. We are worried though, and feel like weve been taken for a ride, if the vaccines turn out to be worthless. If there are any ex-HCUK employees, doctors, general staff OR MANGEMENT who can shed some light on how we can check or have verification that the vaccines were indeed genuine then please provide a response to this post.
Finally, I hope all those parents out there who have been left in limbo do find an alternative provider of the single vaccine.

Could you not just have his immunity checked? That would tell you whether they worked or not. He may not need the mumps booster if the first one gave him enough protection. I don't think the single mumps booster is available anywhere anymore.

Single mumps vaccine*

Given that there are several measles outbreaks at the moment, most notably in the Ukraine. There is a public health concern that spectators who go to the Ukraine will take measles back to the UK (and rest of Europe).
In several countries adults over 42 are now also offered MMR if they are not sure whether they have ever had measles. It is a nasty disease with a 1 in 3 chance of complications.

Personally I would get your kids vaccinated with the MMR jab asap, better safe than sorry. Given that I work in a school, I have decided to book myself in as well, as I am not sure that I have had it. GPs are quite happy to vaccinate but my GP was not happy to have my immunity checked (possibly more expensive?).

My child has had MMR vaccinations, including boosters, without any side effects whatsoever. Same applies to children from friends. Unfortunately Andrew Wakefield has worried lots of parents which increases the risk of measles outbreaks in the UK as herd immunity is down.

I don't think people should have boosters willynilly. A doctor friend of mine encouraged her student ds to have a booster at uni because she couldn't remember how many MMR jabs he had had as a child; so the ds had a booster and developed arthritis as a direct consequence. My friend said that is listed as a possible side-effect of the MMR.

Dikker - where did you get the 1 in 3 risk of complications from?

Also, we've never had the required level of vaccination coverage in the Uk for herd immunity - even before Wakefield.

CDC website
Complications of Measles

Potential Complications

About 30% of measles cases develop one or more complications, including

Pneumonia, which is the complication that is most often the cause of death in young children.
Ear infections occur in about 1 in 10 measles cases and permanent loss of hearing can result.
Diarrhea is reported in about 8% of cases.

These complications are more common among children under 5 years of age and adults over 20 years old.

Even in previously healthy children, measles can be a serious illness requiring hospitalization. As many as 1 out of every 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, and about 1 child in every 1,000 who get measles will develop encephalitis. (This is an inflammation of the brain that can lead to convulsions, and can leave the child deaf or mentally retarded.) For every 1,000 children who get measles, 1 or 2 will die from it. Measles also can make a pregnant woman have a miscarriage, give birth prematurely, or have a low-birth-weight baby.

In developing countries, where malnutrition and vitamin A deficiency are common, measles has been known to kill as many as one out of four people. It is the leading cause of blindness among African children. Measles kills almost 1 million children in the world each year.

Ok. By the last line I know that the article is incredibly inaccurate or well out of date. According to the WHO There were 139,300 deaths globally in 2010 - nowhere near a million. Back in 2001 there were 535300 deaths so it must be Rory outdated.

Complications such as ear infections and diarrhoea are common with measles (as with other viruses) but there is probably under reporting of milder cases or cases in vaccinated people (measles-like virus anyone?) so even apart from their exaggerated global deaths figure I wouldn't be entirely confident in the accuracy of those figures.

This assessment of an outbreak in Southern Italy in 2002 certainly doesn't reflect them. Complication rate of 7.2% (as opposed to 30%), hospitalisation rate of 88.3/100,000 and there were 3 deaths out of 63,368 estimated cases.

Really* not rory

Thanks for the response. I think we will see if we can have an immunity check. We certainly do not want MMR after going down the single vaccine route. If we were just starting the vaccine process then we would still go for singles (if available). I still can't get over the main discussion thread of how HCUK have left so many people in a bad situation...shocking.

If anyone is worried about the MMR jab and is interested in getting single jabs, I would suggest this site: www.jabs.org.uk/ for info and addresses.

We used Healthchoice UK (in Southampton) for a series of single injections for both children a few years ago and were very happy with the service.

Very sorry that so many people have been let down recently.