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8 months waiting for NHS MRI tests - what now?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Hallo
Are you waiting for your MRI date?
Then you have to be patient with your PCT even if you have painfull complaints and unclear diagnosis. The MRI situation for NHS test is definitly grave in Great Britain. At the moment the avarage waiting time for a standard MRI scan is app. 36 weeks. This is almost unic in Europe. It is idle to discuss the situation - for all efforts there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
The key for NHS patients -at least for urgent cases and suspicious diagnosis- can be traveling to european neighbour countries and be treated at NHS tariff. For those who cannot wait here's the information of an address of a large hospital which offers MRI scans at NHS tariff with just 7 to 14 days waiting. Of course with highest international quality standards.
*link removed to avoid advertising - do carry on the debate though!*
We believe that a lot of patients would be very glad to get this opportunity to bring their waiting time down to 1 or 2 weeks for just the expenses of daytrip to Frankfurt /Germany.
I hope this mail is informativ and helps.
With kind regards
Sigrid Flögel[/FONT]
Are you waiting for your MRI date?
Then you have to be patient with your PCT even if you have painfull complaints and unclear diagnosis. The MRI situation for NHS test is definitly grave in Great Britain. At the moment the avarage waiting time for a standard MRI scan is app. 36 weeks. This is almost unic in Europe. It is idle to discuss the situation - for all efforts there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
The key for NHS patients -at least for urgent cases and suspicious diagnosis- can be traveling to european neighbour countries and be treated at NHS tariff. For those who cannot wait here's the information of an address of a large hospital which offers MRI scans at NHS tariff with just 7 to 14 days waiting. Of course with highest international quality standards.
*link removed to avoid advertising - do carry on the debate though!*
We believe that a lot of patients would be very glad to get this opportunity to bring their waiting time down to 1 or 2 weeks for just the expenses of daytrip to Frankfurt /Germany.
I hope this mail is informativ and helps.
With kind regards
Sigrid Flögel[/FONT]
0
Comments
What about those that cannot afford to pay?
Exactly.
MRIs are enormously expensive to have done privately, and private medical insurance is a rip off. Felix, if you put the money you spend on insurance into a savings account every month, you'll find yourself considerably richer and able to pay for whichever tests and investigations you need in cash. Of course if you get it as a job perk then :thumb:
I could say don't get car insurance, get a bike instead or a bus to places.
Thing is, if/when I need medical help I do not want to use a dirty hospital that takes months to get an appointment. The longest I've waited for a non-urgent appointment was about 3 weeks.
My friend tore something in his shoulder a while ago while at work which stopped him from working because he couldn't lift it above a certain height. He had to wait 6 months for a scan (MRI I think) and then a further 8 months to have the operation on the NHS. This meant over a year on the dole.
Private health care would of done the scan + op in less than 3 months I think it was.
If all people that can afford to pay, did then the NHS would be in a better state.
And before you say it, your taxes pay for A+E visits and everything else that the NHS provides or subsidises!
Hallo
many replies but may be the story was not right explained from my side.
You don't have to pay private! The Primary Care Trust can permit the treatment as long as the test do not exceed NHS tariffs. So the only costs are traveling expenses.
Regards
Edzard
Actually, if the service is available on the NHS then they do not have to pay for you to go abroad either. In fact, if you want treatment abroad just to jump the local waiting this then the PCT is not permitted to pay.
How do you know that the private hosipital is clean? Who checks, what is their MRSA rate? Are the subject to the same scrutiny as your local NHS Trust?
My money is on "No".
Forgive me, but if he did it at work then why was he on dole? Surely this was a health and safety issue - his employers certainly would have to keep him on.
Unless he's self-employed. In which case he didn't cover himself, and you cannot blame the NHS for that...
Not to mention the coroner, who is obliged to review all deaths following surgery, including where MRSA is implicated.
[/Twopenneth]
it seems that some people still live in the past and think if they drink water outside Great Britain they will be poisened.
If I need a medical test my quality check for an hospital is, what do they do, how often, who is doing it and how old is the equipment. Very simple but effective.
Kind regards
Edzard
It's also not in their interests to declare what their infection rate is
No oversight, little scrutiny (compared to the NHS) and so much more positive publicity. It will be interesting to see what happens when the Healthcare Commission start looking under this little rock...
To be fair though, the death rate is going to be lower in an environment where you do not treat "risky" patients, therefore the coroner is unlikely to be involved very often...
Actually they are more worried about being poisoned in their local hospitals, they just don't like blatant advertising mate.
Add to that how much and who will pay...
I had to have an MRI of my brain and because my GP was very concerned I was seen within two weeks.
Luckily it turned out ok but I just wanted to say that the wait time isn't random and if the doctor thinks you are at risk of dropping dead you are likely to be seen very quickly!