private hip replacement - your experience?

[NotRainingToday]

Hi,

FIL is 86 and has needed a hip replacement for a couple of years. He's in a lot of pain, walks with a stick etc. His appointments keep being postponed.

I'd be interested to hear of anyone who has gone private (self pay). Was it quick? Good? Worth the money?

Yes, all of those things. I went to the same private hospital my local NHS uses for hip replacement, no frills but cheaper than Nuffield.

My dad did.

He said he would absolutely go private again if his other hip needs done.

My mum had hers done at Spire, absolutely worth it. She was home within three days and recovery was quick, she had it done under spinal with sedation instead of full general and I think this really helped her recover more rapidly. She was 81 when she had it done and she would probably have waited 5 years for it on the NHS.

MIL did. She ended up with a huge infection and had to be transferred to NHS to sort it out.

I had mine done at Spire six years ago. NHS funded, but it was the nearest hospital to me.
Absolutely fantastic, l can't fault it. Surgeon/staff were amazing, as was the food.
The only thing l didn't like was that when l went for my pre op assessment, the nurse announced "So you're having a spinal anaesthetic...." Whoa. What!?
No. Not happening. I insisted on a GA, and got one. And l'm glad l did.
A couple of days after my surgery, when l was 'practising' on my crutches before l went home, l was talking to a man in the next room to me, who'd had his hip done with a GA the year before, and had just had a knee replacement with a spinal block.
He said it was 'like being on a building site. Banging and hammering....'.
I'm glad l had the general. It's major surgery and it's painful, post op. But without it, the pain l had would have got worse.
Well worth it, if you can afford to go private, especially bearing in mind current waiting lists.
I also had complications, none of which were the fault of the hospital.
I needed a blood transfusion post op. I'm a redhead, and l bleed and bruise spectacularly. Also my surgeon removed a very large lipoma (the size of his fist) from my outer thigh at the same time he replaced my hip joint.
That caused a cavity which had to be drained three times. So he had me back in after that, and sutured the cavity closed.
No problems since. The relief from pain was amazing. I had no cartilage on my femur head or in the socket, also bone spurs and cysts. I was so glad to get it done.

I’m on a hip replacement FB group and there are very relieved self payers who got excellent service very quickly.

had both done - 79 years - one ga and the second spinal block. much prefer the spinal block as the numbness wore off pretty quickly and i was up and about the same evening to the bathroom.

yes at our age you do not want to be in pain and have no quality of life. get it done as soon as possible and have some quality of life.

Just check out what aftercare / physio / ot input is offered.

If he has any pre existing health conditions sometimes private hospitals won’t do it, they would want to do it in an nhs hospital better equipped for complications.
Completely depends on his health

I paid privately because I was told it would be a six month wait even to see an orthopaedic consultant on the NHS, with a probable 12 month wait after that before surgery. At this point I was stage 4, no cartilage left and bone on bone. I cannot adequately describe the pain, and how small my life had become.
I had a good experience at the Nuffield hospital. I had a few problems including needing a blood transfusion but I was well looked after thanks to staffing rotas you don’t get in the NHS (I am a nurse). Post operative pain relief and physio all excellent. Can’t comment on the food because unfortunately morphine made me vomit like the girl in the Exorcist so I didn’t really eat while I was an inpatient. I stayed five days. Followed up afterwards for a year. I’m back walking the dog, dancing twice a week and playing netball again, and grateful for every pain free step I take.

Oh and anaesthetic was spinal with sedation, and I was out like a light.

My Dad was 85 when he did this last summer. Very positive for him. It was done in 2 weeks, he saw a lovely private physio after (was included in the cost) who gave him exercises and some guidelines on safe ways to move whilst recovering. Within 2 months he was back to walking to the bus stop by himself to go to town and the library. Before he was hobbling around indoors, had very disturbed sleep due to pain and was prescribed codeine which zombifyed him.

He was otherwise fit and healthy and he was very disciplined about doing his exercises so that prop plays a part but it really was a big success. It's a very common procedure and quite straightforward I was told.

NHS are rationing resources and being blatantly ageist.