Private or NHS

Good morning

I had a thr in September at a bmi hospital.Had to go back in 3 weeks later to a nhs hospital.There is no comparison bmi all the way.

Good luck and best wishes

I think it is luck of the draw I'm afraid, I am in Australia, and have used private and public, private was terrible, no prescription left for pain killers, and nurses had to contact Dr who was unavailable so just had to wait in agony, in public at least the have an emergency Dr's or flying team, within the hospital somewhere they can call.

?Public, just had an example of it this week, son in hospital, visitor was amazed, private room, TV, radio, all rooms are now ensuite, if he had been well enough to use it, needed help, but he is getting better now, and she had been in very expensive private hospital just a week earlier, and was shocked to her socks at just how good the pubic hospital was.

Dear Philip

The most important choice you can make which will have the greater impact on the success and outcome of the surgery is your choice of surgeon.

Choose a surgeon who has a good track record and has done a lot of these surgeries recently. I would have a preference of a surgeon who will be using the posterior approach.

All the best.

Richard

Hi Philip

One definite advantage of having your procedure at a private hospital is that elective non-urgent operations like THRs are unlikely to be cancelled due to emergency admissions. In a large public hospital, in winter, when the NHS is already under pressure for beds, your operation might well get postponed. This happened to my sister twice and was very upsetting for her.

I had both my thrs in a small private hospital which specialises in orthopaedics and I have no complaints. The facilities were excellent - 2 bed ensuite rooms with all mod cons.

Hope this helps with your decision.

Best wishes

sjhips

There are good and bad points about both, I went for the local private hospital (UK here). 

In a private hospital, you usually get a single or double room, so less disturbance from other patients, and better food.

I asked a good friend who was a nurse, and she told me she'd always go NHS as they have all the facilities (including A&E) if anything should go wrong (as it did in the case of my revision). 

When I have any future operation it will be on the NHS at RNOH Stanmore as mine is now a very complex problem.  The ceramic is totally stuck inside the titanium shell which will have to be cut out, and that is totally beyond the scope of any local surgeon or hospital.

Best wishes

Graham

Hi Philip I sent private mainly because of the wait for nhs also you get your own room which was great with toilet and shower food was good and I was home in 2 days if we can afford it I’d do it again

In our local NHS Trust(UK) you can be referred to a surgeon/consultant who operates in a private hospital or one who operates in a Public/NHS hospital. My neighbour had the former and she was delighted with the outcome. When my GP did the referral for my THR he opted for a specific surgeon who only performed his elective NHS operations at the City Hospital in Notttingham.

I was a little apprehensive and not really looking forward to the public NHS experience. I could not have been more wrong. Now 4 weeks post left posterior THR and I'm in great shape. The pre and post operative care was exemplary. OK the 4 bed section in the hospital was a bit noisy and sleep was difficult at times but I was only in for 3 nights and the nursing care was excellent.

I agree with an earlier contributor - it is much more important to get the right surgeon who has a good track record than worry about private vs public hospital issues

Yes, I agree the surgeon is the important thing. I had my op at NHS Edinburgh Royal Infirmary then went to private Spire Hospital for a few days recouperation.

NHS - brilliant surgical team, wonderful caring nurses and staff, being with other new hippies was good as could chat, good facilities

Private - was looked after by same NHS surgeon, good nursing and facilities, peace and quiet but was a bit lonely

Good luck, Lisa. 👣

Hi, as the others have said, the most important part is the surgeon. I had mine at an NHS hospital, although  my surgeon also does a lot of private work too. My experience was overwhelmingly positive, and although there were 4 of us in  our part of the ward, it made it much more interesting. Think I might have felt a bit cut off in a private room. (Though of course the food in a private hospital would be a whole lot better I suppose!)

Hi Philip

I've had both hips replaced in a dedicated NHS Orthopaedic Centre based on the site of a large NHS hospital.  I was in a single occupancy room, complete with an ensuite bathroom.  

Both my operations were performed as planned - no cancellations, no delays.

My NHS surgeon is highly experienced in THRs and in fact does more than double the national average.

After my first op, I had a problem with low blood pressure and after crashing, I was pleased to wake up to a room full of the 'crash team' (about 8 people, including a consultant).  

Pros of being in the NHS system - if anything goes wrong, you have the full back up of the NHS emergency procedures (see previous sentence).

Cons - unfortunately, the food is still terrible!

A friend of mine was recently in a local private hospital.  She also had a single occupancy room with ensuite bathroom.  She didn't see a doctor after her op.  The aftercare she received was not particularly good.  The food was also terrible!

It is my understanding that if anything goes wrong while in a private hospital, that you will simply be bundled up and taken to the nearest NHS hospital.  Private hospitals are not geared to deal with problems.

My advice would be to make sure that your surgeon is the most experienced in which ever approach you are having.  That is more important than anything else.

Good luck with your op - wherever you have it done.