Good private CRS in the UK/London?

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Good private CRS in the UK/London?

Postby NeverEnds » 13 Apr 2012, 04:50

Hi,
I underwent surgery (in the UK, London on the NHS) for a 'very small' fistula back in September 2011 and am basically still recovering.
The full, detailed story can be read on my previous posts here...
http://anal-fissure.org/t4650-fistual-surgery-won-t-heal-help
I've got my next appointment with my NHS CRS in about 2 weeks time (unless I get yet another cancelation!!) but i'm totally losing faith in both him and the NHS as a whole.
I understand they're under pressure, but every appointment is extremely rushed and i've had to actually hustle to see the same surgeon that did my operation the last few visits (my appointment is with him but as he's always so busy they keep trying to palm me off with less experienced consultants).
I understand "everyone heals differently" but I'm now at my wits end and I think it's time to consider a private CRS who will hopefully be able to shed some light of what's happening with me.
Does anyone have any UK based private CRS' they can recommend? Also, does anyone know if I can just make an appointment or do I need something from my GP? I don't want to stop/be discharged from NHS treatment, I just want a really good second opinion and someone qualified I can talk to.
It's not an understatement to say this surgery, or more accurately the recovery from it, is beginning to ruin my life. I'm paranoid about what I eat and drink, have lost a fair amount of weight because of sticking to a super healthy diet (and dare not exercise to help bulk back up) and it's now consuming my every action.
Anyone who can recommend either a good CRS or any advice about going private in the UK, please get in touch.
Thanks in advance,
G.
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Re: Good private CRS in the UK/London?

Postby Davo » 13 Apr 2012, 07:00

Hi,
If you have private healthcare insurance and wish to use this to cover your consulation then you would require a referral letter from your GP however if you are privately paying for your treatment then you can just go ahead and make the appointment yourself.
An initial consultation should cost between Ј180 and Ј250 depending upon the time and location of your appointment.
If you need a good recommendation in the London area then i can surely recommend the guy who looked after me and performed my LIS. He has an office on Harley Street where he carries out his consultations and you can visit him on an evening if need be (his last appointment is normally at 8pm).
Anyway here are his details:
http://www.thelondonclinic.co.uk/consultants/windsor,_mr_alastair_c_j.aspx
If you want to get a feel of what sort of guy he is, here he is on youtube talking about bowel cancer (he starts after about 20 seconds)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFKf1UsLRG8
Davo
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Re: Good private CRS in the UK/London?

Postby NeverEnds » 13 Apr 2012, 09:29

Hi Davo,
thanks for the excellent information. I'd actually done a little net searching and short-listed him, so it's great to here from someone that's actually had personal experience!
No private health cover so I guess I'll be raiding the savings but happy to do so if it shines some more light on my situation,
Thanks
G
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Re: Good private CRS in the UK/London?

Postby Davo » 13 Apr 2012, 09:39

No Problem,
He works with another guy called Mr Cohen who is also very good (I saw him once in Mr Windsors absence) however things felt a little bit more rushed with Mr Cohen whereas Mr Windsor will give you all the time you need.
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Re: Good private CRS in the UK/London?

Postby Layla85 » 13 Apr 2012, 18:00

Hi there
Dr Russell Locke at St John and St Elizabeth (also practices on the NHS) is great.
I saw him both privately and on the NHS- he actually referred me back to see him on the NHS after I had a consultation with him privately at St John. Would highly recommend, he is lovely.
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Re: Good private CRS in the UK/London?

Postby Layla85 » 13 Apr 2012, 18:02

PS: You should be able to book an appointment with him privately minus a referral from your GP.
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Re: Good private CRS in the UK/London?

Postby Sue27uk » 14 Apr 2012, 10:26

If you want to go private, I was told I needed a referral letter from the GP. However you do not need to go and see your GP, just ring the surgery and they can do it for you. My consultation was Ј180, but do be aware of the extra costs. I had a sigmoidoscopy in the time and extra costs can sometimes be added for use of equipment sterilising etc. So I ended up with a Ј340 bill!! The length of consultation was 30 minutes so a good time where you are not rushed. I only had to wait a week for my appointment. However I have tried to go to someone else and the wait time is long as he is on hols, be warned that they go on alot of hols (probably due to astronomical wages!! Image ). I can't recommend anyone in London unfortunately as I am based in Birmingham but can recommend people up here if thats any good (will probably be after May though if I decide to go and see this other chap after my NHS appointment). Prob no good but Davo and Layla both have good info! They've always been great with advice for me!! :D
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Re: Good private CRS in the UK/London?

Postby NeverEnds » 15 Apr 2012, 12:31

Hi all,
thanks for the extra info.
I've made an appointment now, in the end I decided I wanted to go with someone who practices at an NHS hospital as well as private so that, much like Layla85 said, if they feel there's more that could be done for me I might stand a chance of getting referred to them rather than paying out a fortune to go completely private.
I've actually gone with Professor Robin Phillips who's based at St.Marks, which a friend of mine has recommend, and seems to specialise in the op I had done. He can be found here:
http://www.stmarkshospital.org.uk/consultant-staff/robin-phillips/19
Fees wise, I hear ya! I've been quoted Ј250, and yep, if they do extra stuff it'll cost more. I'm certainly not made of money but I've been saying "I'd give everything in my bank to make this go away" for so long now, I guess it's time to put my money where my mouth is.
I'm actually seeing him at the end of a week which starts with me seeing my current CRS, so it'll be very interesting to see if they both say the same. To be honest, I suspect ultimately they will, but at least I should get longer to chat for Ј250!
I'll add a comment here once I've been seen, which might be useful to others in the future.
Oh - and I couldn't get a quicker appointment because..... he's on lots of holidays! It's so true, they are ALWAYS going on holiday!! :-)
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Re: Good private CRS in the UK/London?

Postby NeverEnds » 27 Apr 2012, 05:16

Just had an appointment with my regular nurse (who saw me during my initial recovery from the op) ahead of seeing my CRS next week.
She actually agreed I should go private if I can afford it and was happy to recommend a CRS who practiced at St.Marks (London) as she didn't feel my current NHS CRS was really giving the attention required.
She said the wound looks fine and was wondering if maybe there is another cause to the bleeding, maybe something close to that area which is making it seem like it's the wound causing problems when it's actually something else.
She also wasn't sure continued use of the Anoheal was a good idea for such a long period of time (I've been using it for about 6 months straight now).
Plus she noticed I'd lost a load of weight since I last saw her straight after the op and weighed me - I've lost a stone! I wasn't that surprised, given my super-healthy diet and lack of exercise/weights but i've just tipped into the 'underweight' category on the BMI scale which is slightly worrying. I could turn that around in weeks if I could just get back to a more varied diet + do some weights but i'm paranoid about damaging the recovery.
Anyway, I'll update with next weeks visit to both the NHS CRS and the private one once I've seen them both.
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Re: Good private CRS in the UK/London?

Postby NeverEnds » 11 May 2012, 14:04

Well as promised, here's my follow up after seeing both my NHS and private CRS's last week.
As expected, my regular NHS crs couldn't see any problems on the day and said the wound looked healed - "today". I asked if that means it is actually healed properly and he said "yes, today". He did give me some decent talk time on this appointment but the conclusion was the same as always, no real answers.
I saw the private CRS at the end of the week, a very different type of person and a more honest answer, which I guess is what I needed. He did an exam and could find nothing obviously wrong - 'today'. Jist of his advice was less 'everyone's different' which has been both obvious and useless for me since I first heard the phrase, and more 'this is your lot in life'.
The combined verdict I've now got it, post surgery, all bets are off. You made make a 100% recovery and forget the whole experience - this was what I had expected/hoped for, and if that's you, consider yourself lucky. However, you may also have long-term side effects and that's now just a part of you, which seems to be the category I've fallen into.
Can't say I'm not angry, I did everything and more to make my recovery perfect, but sometimes you can't fight your own physiology and mine seems to not like having anything being touched down there.
The private CRS - link above for those interested - was a very interesting guy. Plenty of time to talk, as you'd expect, and he did do a good job of identifying my concerns and then giving frank analysis of my situation. A word of warning when it came to examination - large hands! I'll say no more...
So I guess my efforts now need to be just getting on with things. I've decided to start exercising as I deperately need to put on some muscle and I figure if I keep to my current diet (vegetarian! who'd have thought it!) then at least I should know when/if the exercise is the cause of problems. After a few months, if all goes well, i'll aim to start varying the diet slowly and see how that goes.
I have a strong suspicion I'll be back on here soon enough, but for now it appears there's little I can do.
Thanks for the advise on here everyone, the site is a real life-line!
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