Year wait for a gynae referral-considering going private

[CoffeeBoy]

its for 21yo Dd who has constant abdominal pain and very heavy periods. She’s been referred for an ultrasound as well which will be quicker but also to see a gynae consultant which will be a year. GP thinks might be cysts or endometriosis.

i can afford an initial consultant appt but not surgical treatment. It’s just so rubbish that this is the state the nhs is in. Even once she’s seen a consultant god knows what the waiting list for actual treatment would be.

Can I ask who has told you it's a year wait for the consultant appointment? I had one at our local hospital in December and was referred by the GP in September. I know all NHS trusts are different so it might be that I just got lucky.

From my experience, the consultant appointment was a bit of a paper exercise. Might be different if you go private, but I'd guess without paying for the surgical procedures you won't be much further along than just waiting on the NHS.

It was the GP who said currently local waiting times are a year.

i thought paying to see the consultant would reduce waiting time by a year even if she had to go back on the nhs list for treatment.

I would get a consultation privately to cut the waiting time and then get referred by for the treatment if still needed. This will significantly cut the waiting time and cost for you.
make sure you take the ultrasound results with you to the private consultant.

I would get something like Benenden health for your daughter. It's a 6 month wait after joining though, but then she could get private testing. It's only £11 a month.

Or you could pay for the ultrasound, I had one precently and was not too expensive

I'm on the waiting list too and have been told it will be at least a year maybe 18 months. It's been 6 months so far. I wouldn't pay for the consultant as the important thing is the diagnosis. The scan should be fairly quick and she'll get the results of that. You can then decide whether to pay for the next step.

I’ve just looked at that, is it real that they don’t exclude current conditions? That’s amazing. I’ve had an ankle problem for five years and am fed up of the nhs fobbing me off, would they really let me just pay £66 total for six months and then do ankle surgery? And obviously get Dd seen for this issue, and she has loads of ongoing chronic conditions

Ok, the small print “We cannot provide treatment services where a procedure has taken place on the same body area within the previous two years”

Hi @CoffeeBoy just to share that I recently went private for a procedure for my son. Local waiting times were 12+ months. After initial consultation and tests I asked if it would speed things up to cross back to NHS for the actual operation. I was advised that the NHS will not take test results from private. I would essentially be starting from scratch with the NHS but would (frustratingly!!) already know what the issue is.
We decided just to get the operation done privately. It's changed my sons life so was well worth it but appreciate this might not be an option for you!

Before going privately you can call the appointments line or gynae secretaries and ask how long the current wait is. I did this for a different specialty and got a very precise answer of 27 weeks.

I’d avoid Benenden. Paid into it for years on a family policy through my work, and never needed them until recently.

DD recently needed an op and they are dragging their heels about payment.

Get the GP to refer you then contact the consultant or dept directly to gauge the waiting time

If you do go private for an initial consultation that information in itself will then allow you to be fast tracked for any procedures as you've bypassed the waiting time for the first stage

Lots of people go private for the first consultation

I've always found BUPA and Spire to be very good and they have excellent facilities

I would ring them and check that. I thought it was on the same body area that benenden had already investigated within the 2 years.

I had surgery for varicose veins which were pre-existing. Just had an MRI and ultrasound for abdo pain as well. They didn't mention anythign about previous conditions (have had surgery in the past)

I found them really useful

They give you a Bupa code so you need to check it is authorised before going ahead with the procedure. So no payment is involved at that point.

You need to check carefully though as some things are not included.