Cost of a private MRI

[alwaysworried]

Hello

DOes anyone have any sort of figures for the cost of a private MRI?

My DS is nearly 7 and the last paed said he thought that it would be the next step, but he has now retired and the new paed is adamant that it's not necessary, and won't refer to a neurologist either.

It's a long story and I don't really want to out myself as I am thinking of putting in a complaint for various reasons.

However although I can scrape together probably enough money for a private consultation I think that an MRI (under general or sedation???) would be really expensive. My ex has sort of agreed to pay but I think he thinks it will be about £50

I've had a look on the web but there are no prices for children, only adults.

thanks for advice,

Sorry no idea how much it would cost privately. But DS had one a few weeks ago without sedation (which I guess would be cheaper?) and got on fine. Took a lot longer than I thought tho.

As for complaining see my recent post here - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1014793-to-be-pissed-off-with-the-NHS it will give you an idea of DSs background too.

Hope DS is ok?

my ds 2 had one in march on the nhs ..no idea how much they cost private tho

PS should have said DS is 6.

Thanks for all of this. I've found some places on line, but they make no mention of children. I had a look at the Great Ormond Street website and they said that children are sedated/or have general and that a consultant paed anesthetist would be there.

So I guess i have two questions!

If your child had an MRI, were they sedated/ had general, how old were they and was there a paed on call?

Second
Do any of these private MRI places I've found on the internet deal with youngish children

thanks for all the advice so far.

Sorry cant do question two but DSs neurologist was adamant that an MRI should be tried initially without sedation as DS has been diagnosed with epilepsy and may require MRIs on a reasonable regular basis. And if children are sedated they tend to think its something really scary and at what age do they stop sedating?

We were also told it would take longer for an MRI appt to come through if we wanted DS sedated so opted not to and glad we did to be honest. What I didn't realise was that it wasn't like an xray where its just like taking a quick holiday snap. DS had about eight different scans that varied in length from 40 seconds to 9 and a half minutes. And what is needed was requested by the neurologist so not sure how that would work if you were paying privately?

DS coped better than I did to be honest. It was a weird experience.

Good grief Loflo - are you me ? I am very freaked out at reading your story as we have experienced almost identical problems with a neurology team regarding DS's seizures whilst in hospital. I am trying to put it all behind me, but DH is still adamant he wants to put in a formal complaint about the way we were treated.

If you find any of my posts between January and May this year you'll get the gist of the story.

I haven't got CAT set up on this nickname but if you fancy a chat e mail me on [email protected]

No idea about private MRI am afraid - again, we had thought about it at one point but managed to have one this year. It was their refusal to carry out an EEG when DS was showing signs of being in non convulsive status that astounded us the most but .....deep breath, don't get me started on it at the moment!!

some places publish prices, eg here, but surely you are entitled to a second opinion??

I once wrote to a way out-of-area neuro with details of my ds (had also written to GOSH), who replied and agreed to see my ds subject to a referral. Then I showed the correspondence to the paed and he referred us.
I reckon you could try to convince paed by being desperate and upset enough, plus reiterate last paed advice, can't see why he shouldn't.
Also, try getting paed on your side, you might need them for years (this worked for me).
We actually have mri offer open for my ds, but haven't taken it up as he improved dramatically on the (gluten free) diet and I feel mri in itself wouldn't add much.

Hello fatzak - I will drop you an email later tonight

I had one in January and it cost £547.50 at the Nuffield. I got an appointment within a week and the results in less then a week.

I would expect them to sedate a child - but I don't know if they do...I am fairly resilient but had to really steel myself not to make them pull me out it felt so claustrophobic.

I got a referral to a neuro by emailing at researcher/clinician in America, who put me in contact with neuro who had worked in his lab who was now at Addenbrookes. He then emailed saying yes yes he agreed I needed to see someone. That was enough for reluctant paed to refer.

Only took 2 years! But NHS neuro when we saw him was fab..

If you CAT me I'll give you some names!

Hello Justabout. Yes, the L place! S were absolutely fantastic and if they could have offered us a place on the diet, we would have transferred there without a doubt.

How are you? Sounds like things are pretty hectic for you at the mo - we must try and catch up over the summer.

Looking for any experience in finding somewhere that offers MRI with sedation for a child privately.

Long story but a friend of mines son has been having seizures along with other neurological symptoms and the nhs won't offer him an mri at this stage.

We have been ringing around but all require a referral or it's non sedated but there is no way he will sit through an mri without sedation.

Any experience with this would be very helpful!