options for private op outwith central belt and NHS rehab?

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DM is on the waiting list for a non-urgent hip replacement, along with thousands of others and has been told 18 months. She lives in the south of Scotland, her nearest major hospital is in Dumfries. DM has the cash to pay for this op privately and it would make a huge difference to her quality of life.

I live 2 hours away from her, sibling is in south of England. She could pay to have her op at one of the private hospitals in Glasgow or Edinburgh but the logistics of that are tricky - getting her to appointments would be down to me to drive down, pick her up, drive her back, drive home... And the rehab after the op concerns me too, our house is entirely unsuitable as there is no downstairs loo.

Does anyone know if there is a provision to be treated as a private patient in a non-private hospital?

I don't think this is really a thing in Scotland. I've certainly never seen it beyond fertility/maternity.

Wherever she has the op your challenge will be the very short stay in hospital following hip replacements now so if she is elderly she will likely need someone to look after her for at least a week on discharge. Therefore most of her appointments will be as an outpatient.

Could you go and stay with her for a week? Hip replacement rehab is fairly mainstream physio so you may be able to get a private physio to come to her house which would help with the rehab appointments

Can't advise as dh got his THR done on the NHS at the Jubilee in June. But his experience might reassure you - but there again, every case is different .

He'd been on the waiting list for 53 weeks and actually had been told by his consultant 2 years before that that technically he needed a hip replacement but as he was still running around refereeing youth rugby he apparently has a very high threshold , he wasn't going to put him on the list (which my dad, a retired medic, confirmed wasn't just him being fobbed off).

He was transferred to the Jubilee's list in February. There was a slight delay as he needed 3 teeth extracted, and they won't operate until 2 weeks after an extraction.

He was done as Day Surgery - in and out in under 12 hours . He was a suitable case though - relatively young ("only" 64 ) and fit. We were in Madeira in March and we were walking c20,000 steps a day (he did need his Naproxen though ).

Be aware though that after the physios check that you can walk and climb stairs (which they did with dh within 2 hours of coming out of surgery ), there might not be that much follow up

Our house (an upper conversion) is on the first floor so he had to climb c20 steps to get to the living floor. We're fortunate though that our main bedroom is on the same floor, as is the main bathroom - and we have a big walk-in shower. So once he was in the house, he didn't have much walking to do (and I was at his beck and call ). The hospital delivered a frame for support for him for the loo.

I did have to drive him to 3 appointments to get his dressing changed - and also to the doctor's practice on his behalf to get a new prescription for the heavy duty opioid painkiller that he'd been given by the hospital and had run out of (he was told not to stint on the painkillers). So you do need to have someone to run around a bit for her.

He's had no additional physio but is expected to do the exercises he was given 3-4 times a day. He's slipped up a bit on this over Christmas but is working on getting back in to the habit.

He gradually increased his walking - initially round the house (with 2 crutches), then outside, gradually getting longer and reducing to one crutch and carrying the other one, then just carrying the two. Within a few months he was not using crutches at all. 7 months later and he walks without a limp.

The hospital was excellent with its telephone support and he can call them at any time with any concerns or questions.

She would need convalescence after the op. Does BUPA not offer this?

To be honest we haven't started to explore options beyond thinking private could be a possibility.

Yes technically I could move in but it means putting my life entirely on hold for however long and that's not always possible. I also saw what happened to my mum when dad had dementia and social care completely washed their hands of them because it was assumed mum would step in and look after him. I cannot be a carer for extended periods, it's just not practical for a whole host of reasons and my mum would not be comfortable with me doing personal care anyway.

I do appreciate experiences but an active 64 year old who lives with family is an entirely different kettle of fish from a 80 year old with two knackered hips who lives on her own.

Whether she has it done in NHS or private I'd advise you to really plan ahead.

She's not going to be a day case at her age and situation but she may well be home in 3 days. She'll still have pain and need quite a bit of care. My relative in her 60s couldn't change the thick white TED stockings herself!
The hospital won't arrange this as it's elective surgery and she'll be given information on what is required at pre-op appointment and will be expected to organise this.

If family can't cover then you may need to look at contacting social care in advance or organising a private care agency for a few weeks.

The good thing about joint replacement is once your mum gets through the initial few weeks she should be more mobile and manage better than she did before

No option to be treated privately at an NHS hospital in Scotland, unfortunately. Most private centres in Scotland are in central belt. Could she have it done at a private hospital near where you live and then stay with you afterwards?

No - we don't have a downstairs loo, if we got her up to the first floor that's not good either as there is a loo but the shower is an over-bath one, the walk in shower is up in the loft. Her own house is all on one level and a LOT more practical. I will have a chat with sibling and start to put feelers out - mum has enough cash to easily cover care for a few weeks.

You don't need a downstairs loo, I had my hip done in 19 and the hospital like you climb stairs, good exercise. Where I was treated, they wouldn't discharge you until you had passed the stair test. I was 75 when I had the op,keep doing the exercises post op, and she should be fine.

We used a private care home after a Broken hip was fixed and then paid ofr private physios to treat him there. Expensive but only option due to needing to go to work out of home, no downstairs toilet etc.