Has anyone seen Professor Lesley Regan as a Private patient?

[AmyHS]

Hi everyone,

I have just suffered my 4th miscarriage (3 within the last year and 1 in 2009). After receiving very shoddy care from my local NHS unit, my husband and I have decided to pay to see Dr Regan privately.

We do not have insurance, but have seen her list of fees and feel that, with a little tightening of our belt, we can just afford to take this route.

Whilst I know the fees for the consultations and tests etc, what I am unsure of is how often I will need the tests and whether they might be repeated. For example, at the initial consultation I am expecting to have bloods taken, which will then be tested for various things and that I would pay upfront for these........I would then expect at the next appointment (possibly when the results are in) that I would then pay for any additional tests......over time, once the tests are done, I would just be paying follow-up appointment fees??? Is this correct or am I completely off the mark?

Also, can anyone tell me how much I can expect to pay for treatments such as Heparin etc??

If anyone has actually seen Prof Regan as a private patient and has paid, I would be really grateful to hear your experiences, I just really want to make sure that me and my husband aren't getting in too deep to anything that we can't afford

Thanks

xxxx

Dear Paris London Mum

I am pretty shocked to hear your post but there are a few observations I can make having been a private patient for a number of years at Raj Rai's and on the basis of just being about to give birth to my 2nd child solely as a direct result of their team, I can honestly say that if you do your research you will discover that Lesley Reagans team are recognised as the best in the country with a 96% success rate.

The first observation is that St Mary's NHS at Winston Churchill wing is unfortunately in administration chaos. This isn't helped by the high number of NHS patients going through their door and the pressures of the NHS which mean that waiting times and pressures on doctors clinics can be high. You aren't paying for the treatment so the luxury element will drastically change when you go private. You also administered yourself as a patient via the NHS in the first place which makes it morally constrained for a doctor to tell and facilitate you in the NHS to move over privately (it could affect their licence). If you had approached their clinic via the MINT wing (totally different wing and private) your experience would not have been the same. There is also the opportunity to do tests that the NHS sadly simply won't fund. You would have received sticky blood tests etc.

I can understand why the doctor was raising the issue around IVF. IVF is for people that can't conceive. The one message I have consistently had is that if you miscarry, you have proven your ability to get pregnant, therefore the next requirement is to find out why you are miscarrying.

I know how hard miscarriage is, but I can honestly say that St Mary's has a far better reputation privately than Great Portland St (in fact GPS has a bit of a bad reputation for a higher number of babies being born and dying in their care due to a direct lack of facilities). If I hadn't gone to St Mary's then I would have gone to Chelsea Westminster Kensington Wing.

You really can't blame a very under pressured NHS hospital which has a lot of red tape and overworked doctors given extremely extensive patient lists and compare it to Great Portland St as it isn't like for like. I would have highly recommended going private in the first place and then when pregnant transferring to the NHS. I have had a catalogue of issues with St Mary's on the NHS side, but this has all been due to the chaos of their administration management and nothing to do with the doctors - but they are left to clear up. I have recommended 5 friends to Dr Rai - all of which have gone privately and had babies first time around after traumatic pre appointment experiences. His clinic has a 96% success rate and this in itself is the solid proof of their ability. I just don't think its fair to complain that you went in to the NHS in a busy hospital, then expected them to transfer you over privately and give you the same service which they just cant do once you've gone down that root. That said, if they ask a lot of questions to get to the root cause of your problem and if they thought you needed tests you could get on the NHS, I am very sure you would have got them. I really wish you a happier journey and just want to emphasis this as there are some factors which would definitely have impacted your experience and you can never compare NHS with Private treatment.

hi,
been reading your messages , I have been trying to see Prof Regan for recurrent miscarriage ,tried everything , may b last resort to see what she suggests , any ideas to what to expect o nt he first appointment. any test tests to take with me ............any hope

Hi. I saw Prof Regan a long time ago - back in 1998. I personally thought her ‘bedside manner’ was absolutely vile. I ended up having an argument with her, as she stated I needed to ‘give up work’... I challenged her and asked why she was advising me to give up a job I loved on the ‘off chance’ I would have a successful pregnancy. She said it was so I felt I was ‘doing something positive’. I didn’t have a successful pregnancy and remain childless (not due to my job, I hasten to add, which I still have and love....). My mum summed iher attitude up : ‘she spends all day listening to other people’s misery....’. Good luck, I understand St Mary’s is still a ‘European leader’. Hope your experience is more positive than mine.