Q about cost of HRT.

[SakuraBlossom]

I have a private appointment in a few days to talk about my periM symptoms. I have been to my GP, but they were useless. Because of this I have a private appointment.

On another forum I saw someone mention they went to a private GP and came away with £700 worth of HRT.

My Q is, if my GP is rubbish and I end up in a private clinic is this what I am going to be stung for?

Is there any way to get my private GP to just tell me what to buy or then feed it through my local GP. I don't expect the NHS to pay for it. I would just envisage it being a bit cheaper through them.

I don't know what I am talking about do I?

Your private consultant can give you a prescription which you will have to pay for but it won't be £700 of HRT! although you will have to pay c £200- £300 for your consultation + more if he wants blood tests etc.

Ask him to write back to your GP with details of what he prescribes so that the next prescription will be an NHS one. However the consultant may wish to see you for a follow up to see how you are progressing first.

Sorry your GP is such rubbish. Is there no NHS Menopause Clinic ear you to save going private?

I have oestrogen patches and utrogstan prescribed privately and the cost is about £25 for 2 months' worth as far as I remember. No extra charge for the actual prescription beyond the consultation cost, which was £275 IIRC. Clinic near Harley Street.

The £700 would be for the consultation and any blood tests (which are not mandatory if it's a straightforward consultation. Don't be conned into the 'bio identical / test your bloods and saliva route.)

Private health care treats you as a consumer/client. Phone your dr's PA and ask about charges in advance- no need to feel embarrassed.

I have used Oestrogel and Utrogestan for years. It's a private script. Cost can vary according to the pharmacy (posh ones nr Harley St are about £1 higher per item).

Gel is around £10 a month and Utrogestan is 25p a capsule (depends how many you use a month- either daily or 12 days.) It doesn't work out much more than 2 x NHS scripts.

All prices are on Menopause Matters website under HRT but may be slightly out of date.

One point- your GP is not under any legal obligation to honour medication on the NHS prescribed privately.You also need to think about who will monitor your long term care - private gynae or GP. A private dr may well ask you to come back in 6 months for a review, at a lower cost for the appt.

To be clear- the cost of private scripts is the RRP per item plus a dispensing fee by the pharmacy. Some private consultants do charge each time for writing the prescription (like £30) but not all.

I had a private consultation with a specialist in bio-identical HRT yesterday. I paid £260 for the 45 minute consultation and £251 for the blood test. Today I have paid £75 for the telephone consultation that I am having with her on Monday. Following that consultation she will write the prescription (and presumably there will be a charge for that) and I will get two months supply of the medication for which I will pay £80.

In two months time I will have a further in-person consultation which will cost another £260 and also a pelvic ultrasound, smear test and Dexa scan. I don't know yet what those tests will cost but I'm expecting another £500 or so.

Add to all that the cost of travel (she's in London, I'm in the north) and I will spend something approaching £1500 to get started on this regime, which is a lot up front, but should settle back to £40 per month once I'm in it.

This was Harley St btw.

By the sounds of this thread so far, I am worried that the NHS is massively failing women who are entering the menopause years! I expect I'll be there in the not too distant future ... is it really a battle to actually get appropriate, effective treatment on the NHS??? My family history tells me I'm going to need HRT of some kind!

What's more beware I bet the poor service to women ultimately costs the NHS more. How many women have been prescribed AD's when not needed and treatment for other ailments later on.

Beware the issue for me is that HRT is so personal and there is no personalised medicine on the NHS. Others may come on here and express scepticism about bio-identicals, but I've been doing some reading and talking to other women and this is the route I have chosen for now. You won't get a 45 minute consultation in the NHS system an that conversation is very important for the doctor to get a good picture of who you are and how you live.

It may be that in a couple of months time I've ditched the HRT because of unwanted side effects, no benefits or whatever, but I'm happy with the care I'm getting privately so far, despite the cost.

@Alberta You are being ripped off. This is Gluck?
You can get all those hormones on the NHS- drs call them body identical now.
Bio identical is not a term recognised in the UK. Drs prefer body-identical and there is no need for blood tests etc because you can adjust the dose yourself to get relief of symptoms.
There is plenty about this on the website Menopause Matters including an article on the Home page by a dr on the confusion between bio and body identical.

Your scan, smear and DEXA will prob cost you more than £500. I have these every few years. Dexa is around £200, scan £350, smear £75-ish. Unless there are real reasons (high risk) why are you having them?

You can also get the same you have had from other top gynaes in Harley St who don't charge another fee for a phone chat AFTER you have already paid for a consultation. what is that all about?

Not Gluck, no.

As I said, I'm happy with my choices for now. I remain open minded.

Alberta, no need to explain yourself. Right now I'd pay that and some to feel like my old self.

Sorry am I missing something here? Why can’t you just change GP? You can’t really slam the entire health service for failing women on the basis of one Dr.

The one message to take from here is that there is no such thing as bio identical HRT! Estradiol and Utrogestan are both available on the NHS and are mainstream body-identical HRT (the kind slebs go on about in the Mail) Things like progesterone lozenges are not regarded as safe enough. (Some private clinics supply these.) You can devise your own personal dose with estradiol in the form of gel. No need to pay thousands of pounds. If you want time to talk through the options and your own meno symptoms, then yes by all means see a consultant but make sure they are a consultant gynaecologist with good credentials, not just a GP /dr who has jumped on the bio- bandwagon to make a quick buck.