Are celebrities given the best doctors when they use NHS for surgery?

[Fiona2011231]

May I ask for your information on this question?

When I read about famous people (artists, journalists, politicians, etc) undergoing surgery with NHS, I often wonder which doctors are assigned to the cases.

Can they choose which doctors they want? Or do the NHS discreetly assign the best doctors to their cases?

Thank you

oh yes absolutely. You see we divide our staff up between the shit 'kill you as soon as look at you' medics who learnt everything they know from ER and Holby City and the really good 'proper' doctors. The proper doctors are too expensive to use all the time so we keep them for best. Like the Duchess of Cambridge needing to give birth. She got the proper docs. Everybody else giving birth in London that day got some muppets who though a uterus was a new model of Ford.

LOL superswimming, you forgot to mention the 'break glass in case of celebrity' button which starts a klaxon to summon the proper doctors from their celebrity lounge (they obvs call it the green room like on telly).

In reality I would imagine there is a slightly greater chance of having contact with the consultant than one of his/her team but that's about it.

As to choice - everyone has a choice of consultants these days, it's policy.

I also forgot the on call manager system. If a celebrity is admitted in the middle of the night then the on call senior manager has to wake up the Chief Executive so the Chief Exec can crack on and bake the muffins they will hand deliver the next morning to said celeb's bedside. No muffins means an automatic investigation by Monitor and a major cull in the board.

@ tribpot : Thank you. Could you elaborate on "everyone has a choice of consultants these days, it's policy"?

For example, if I ask my GP for a referral, can I ask for a specific consultant - perhaps a very famous doctor - even if that consultant works far away from my local area?

Didn't Cherie Blair famously give birth in Chelsea and Westminster with a whole team waiting on stand-by, though? That wasn't normal.

We also put the celebs on an ordinary ward but it's a ward we keep just for them. 30 pristine beds and staff dressed like something from Call the Midwife on constant alert. Sometimes the hoi polloi try to get in but we have attack dogs to herd them back down to A&E trollies where they belong.

Having said that, there are many celebrities who write publicly about their amazement at the standard of care they randomly (or standardly might be a better way of putting it) in the NHS.
Tony Parsons has written a lot about the care his child received and how good it was.

Fiona - some info on Choice policy here (it's in the NHS Constitution) and here.

Yes, you can ask for a particular consultant (we seem to have moved from celebrity patients to celebrity doctors now ) but he/she is not obliged to accept the referral.

Thecat - there's a team on standby for every woman giving birth. You need a crash C-section somebody will appear to do it. You arrive at maternity and there are midwives there to greet you. C&W and other hospitals treating high profile patients will however have contingency plans in place to ensure the privacy and comfort of those patients is maintained.

Sadly there is probably more truth to this than there should be. There are plenty of operations that I am perfectly capable of doing as a registrar, but if a big celeb came in, I would be much more likely to call the boss to let them know, and I suspect they would also be more likely to want to do it themselves. Its not right, but any negative media for the hospital can have a significant impact, so the reality is that, yes, the chief exec would want to know and yes they may get different treatment.

Some people wouldnt pander to it though, and I havent actually had a celeb patient (that Ive recognised) so I cant say for sure.

If a big celeb came to your company, would you let your newest and least experienced member deal with them, even if they were perfectly capable of doing a good job?

What makes you think that your referral doesn't get matched with the best consultant for you? Every referral is assessed in the same way, celebrity or otherwise.

They get the same doctors as anyone else. They normally get a private room though.

Prince Edward's wife Sophie Wessex ended up having a very crash section when she suffered an placental abruption at 34ish weeks. I bet the staff on duty that night got one hell of a shock but got on with it. Wasn't even the hospital she was booked at.

swimmingdolphin, I'm sorry but in think you are mistaken about the chief exec baking muffins. He/she gets straight on the phone to his/ her PA at 3am and demands that the muffins are baked and delivered to him/her by6am and then gets back to sleep. He also demands that there is a press meeting and photo opportunity arranged for the Muffin Presentation.

My son sees a very famous professor (famous in the world of paediatric respiratory diseases, not Casualty style fame ) I wonder if DS1 became a celeb and didn't tell me?

I'll give you a sensible answer Fiona.

Yes, you can go to your GP armed with the name and location of the consultant who you want to see and they can refer you to them. Mine did.

I see an excellent consultant who I chose to see. He doesn't work in the health authority I live in or the neighbouring one. I found him after spending hours and hours on the Internet finding the best person I could to treat my condition. When I go to the hospital I only ever see him, I am only ever operated on or treated by him. But that is probably because my case is complex. He treats celebrities (mainly sports people) too!

I'm not saying this actually happened, however..... I might work in a hospital. In this hospital maybe a famous celeb business person was admitted as an emergency. Maybe it was whoever was on call in that specific discipline who saw him and not the famous consultant. The celeb was bloody delighted with their care it was in the local paper and everything.

Well, not that it happened gaggiagirl but if it had have done, hypthothetically that sounds very good and well done to that hypothetical on call doc.

I don't think the Op merits a 'sensible' answer tbh and in any case it will depend on your condition. For interesting rare conditions yes you may be accepted out of area and feel it worth travelling. For the more run of the mill stuff you can research all you like but a consultant is unlikely to accept wildly out of area patients nor indeed is there any point in you wishing such a thing. NHS care is generally very good and there is relatively little variation in the standard of care though there is variation in facilities and waiting times. Some hospitals are 'centres' for some conditions but if you need that your GP is just as capable of determining that as you are.

Matilda - some chief execs are trying to be hands on and show they are at one with the workers dontcha know. The days of getting your celeb muffins baked for you are passing fast. They even pour their own coffee now!

Prince Philip was treated by the NHS fpr a bladder infection wasn't he? On a ward I've been on myself actually.. I don't think he got any privileges that anyone else wouldn't be entitled to at the time but I couldn't confirm that.

Since 2009 patients have had the right to choose the hospital they go to and from April 2012 they have had the right to choose the consultant they see. here, NHS care is not the same across the country and it never will be.

Oh, and the OP does warrant a sensible answer because she asked a question. The only stupid questions in this world are the ones that aren't asked!

Don't let NICE, Monitor or the CQC hear you say care isn't the same across the country. The standards are the same. You do not need to travel to get better care though you may have to travel to get more specialist care.

But in any case that isn't what the OP asked.