Lap & Dye NHS - exploration or treatment?

[helloeggy]

Hello all! I have a problem with my upcoming surgery and hope people's experience's might help.

My Lap and Dye for suspected Endo is coming soon, and I wondered if ladies getting it on the NHS has also been told by consultant they they weren't 'legally allowed' to treat anything they did find on the spot?

I'm rather disappointed because when I saw the same consultant privately for initial diagnosis she recommended Lap & Dye on NHS and said they'd treat endo on the spot, but when I saw her in NHS hospital to arrange surgery she seemed to have put her Compensation Culture hat on and denied any option of investigation AND treatment together claiming the patients consent was needed to do anything treatment-related. The surgery has been slow in coming (bang on 18 weeks from referral) so I'm worried scheduling another one to treat what they find will waste lost of time, plus the fun of another general anesthetic!

Have people been offered consent forms specifying any of this pre-surgery perhaps?

I'm trying to be grateful for op, but really scared of the surgery because treatment has been so haphazard and inconsistent...

Oh that sounds disappointing. My surgeon just wrote out everything that he might want to do during surgery on the consent form, making it clear that it was a case of reacting to what was found during the procedure. Don't see the point of possibly undergoing surgery twice when once could do.

This just seems bizarre. Maybe talk to your GP for advice on pproaching your cosultant. I wouldn't really want to undergo the surgery if I couldn't have any endo treated.

i was only allowed exploration, no treatment. it was like a factory, so many of us going through surgery that afternoon, to the extent that they nearly gave me the WRONG procedure!! (just as i was going under, i heard, 'wait, we've got the wrong patient')

i waited 10 months for lap & dye & then only got it cos i managed to get hold of the consultant (who i hadn't even seen, just his registrar) and cried on the phone cos i was so desperate.

then had to wait weeks for the 'feedback'

then i moved areas, where they did nothing at all for infertility, not even a basic sperm test, so we had to go private.

hello, if you can possibly afford it, start saving for private treatment, or move somewhere with better fertility treatment.

Hmm, that puts things into perspective. I did suspect it was a case of 'when there's a will there's a way', antoinette.

Sorry to hear you had such a fight kickassangel, what a nightmare situation with the production-line op!

I paid to privately see this same consultant who's doing op on NHS and was pretty underwhelmed by the experience but I guess being in London there'll be better deals on offer, eh? I'll try and ring the secretary at admissions and negotiate a consent form that contemplates possible action.

Thank you all, good luck on this challenging journey and keep smiling - it'll all be forgotten when our lovely children come along

good luck, eggy. the whole thing is so horrible, but so worth it - dd is now about to turn 7, so, eventually, i got there.

if you're somewhere that there is some choice about where to go, do 'shop around'. friends of ours lived near halifax & had a brilliant experience on the nhs. for us, going private was the answer, as 5 years of waiting around meant i was getting older & more desperate. it seemed like never ending hell at the time, but actually 3 rounds of ivf in 6 months & i was pregnant.

Hi there,

I hada lap and dye treatment on the NHS (scotland) and I had on the spot treatment for mild endo. It was in my consent form that I signed prior to going under. I would insist on it personally as it does take some time to recover and there is no need to do it twice.....

I found that the first 2-3 days after the surgery were uncomfy but the recovery was generally fine. I slept the first couple of nights alone....

I hope that helps.

Thanks kickass, I do believe so: I dream of children with my parnter's gigantonormous French nose! I might also have the chance to go to my home country for really good private treatment where our money would go further.

Thanks you also afterivf, I have now been told my pre-op assessment will be with an actual doctor (not the nurse who did basic check-up in a corridor the day the consultant agreed on surgery!. Apparently I get to sign and read the consent form then, so hopefully I can see how much it covers.

Best of luck to all of you and thanks again for your kind responses! X

I'm booked in for laparoscopy, dye and hysteroscopy at the same time (I've got submucosal fibroids) in October. The consultant explained it will depend on what they find in the lap and dye as to whether the hysteroscopy will happen but I signed consent forms for both procedures. Good luck!

Thanks newyearsday, I think I may have had hysteroscopy mentioned in passing but I'll hopefully be given the proper brief for pre-op. It seems funny that if they have a laparoscope in there they also need hysteroscope, but they're the experts I guess...

best of luck with your surgery! X

I know I thought the same. It is a whole new world of confusing medical terminology and decisions!