So 16 months after NHS treatment......

[SiM]

..... my knee problem is finally diagnosed....... thanks to a private hospital......

My knee rant (not knee-jerk rant)

Back in feb 07, I injured my knee, whilst martial arts sparring. Went to A&E next day, was told I have injured one of my knee ligaments, and was booked into the fracture clinic. I couldn't walk for about a week, and could not put weight on my leg for about 2 weeks. Saw 2 different doctors and the fracture clinic over these 3 weeks and then was told I can start physiotherapy. I had lost about 50% of the muscle in my leg by then.

I was improving in physio, but there was still a lot of awkwardness in the joint. Most of the physio was about stretching and strengthening the muscles around the joint. I went through about 4 different physios due to some leaving and me moving to london for the summer hols.

So a year later I try playing badminton (I avoided sports to prevent reinjury), and my knee gives way. I tell my physio, she looks in the notes and tells me that my ligaments are intact - this was one diagnosis I have been told and is what the doctors put on my file. My previous physio however told me that my ligament is partially damaged and I might need surgery to get it back to sports level. So naturally, I am confused about what is actually wrong with me.

I decide to go private. I go for my first appointment (today) . After 2 minutes of examining my knee my doc tells me "yup, its torn"
I go for an MRI to confirm and he is right. The NHS never considered giving me an MRI. So I leave the private hospital with an appointment for reconstructive surgery and I should be fully recovered in one year from now.

The NHS wasted a year of my sporting life.

\Rant over

[r_j_k_p]

i suppose thats why people go private... for quality.
not to say that under nhs, all work is of low quality, but generally if you are directly paying for something, the professional will go the extra mile to get the intended results.

[Sinizter]

Its the NHS. Pretty much what I would expect.

[dave87]

I must admit that is partially the reason why I value my health insurance so much - broke my collarbone. It was so bad the likelyhood of it repairing naturally was very low. The NHS could do the following Friday, maybe, if they had a bed. Private hospital said Thurs, but by the time I'd reached home had a message from the surgeon himself, saying he could do it the next morning.

Hospital staff were fantastic, and the surgery was over and done with. Didn't even need physio out the end of it.

So yes, I would agree private is the way to go, even if it costs to do so - as the length of time and potential financial loss as a result is minimised...

[sammyc]

be interesting to know what different private drs. would've said for full range of comparison. never met 2 drs. of any variety myself who agreed on much. and i know drs. hate you diagnosing yourself... but it seems as if you have half an idea you need anything scanned or tested, you kind of have to press them on it (even though that's probably the quick way to getting negative stuff written in your notes in dr's code...)

good luck with op btw.

[Hicks12]

my dads lucky he has health insurance, he would of been paying about 10k(i think) in fee's as he has had 3 major back operations, the private hospital (nuff field one) was easyil;y the best one and was the quickest but also helped him through it really well.

Glad the private one helped you, good luck on recovering.

[SiM]

i suppose thats why people go private... for quality.
not to say that under nhs, all work is of low quality, but generally if you are directly paying for something, the professional will go the extra mile to get the intended results.

The thing is that he didn't go the extra mile. I barely spent any time with him... He just knew what he was doing...

I must admit that is partially the reason why I value my health insurance so much - broke my collarbone. It was so bad the likelyhood of it repairing naturally was very low. The NHS could do the following Friday, maybe, if they had a bed. Private hospital said Thurs, but by the time I'd reached home had a message from the surgeon himself, saying he could do it the next morning.

Hospital staff were fantastic, and the surgery was over and done with. Didn't even need physio out the end of it.

So yes, I would agree private is the way to go, even if it costs to do so - as the length of time and potential financial loss as a result is minimised...

I will join private healthcare plan when I start work in 3 months... I wasn't planning to, but I will definitely join now.

be interesting to know what different private drs. would've said for full range of comparison. never met 2 drs. of any variety myself who agreed on much. and i know drs. hate you diagnosing yourself... but it seems as if you have half an idea you need anything scanned or tested, you kind of have to press them on it (even though that's probably the quick way to getting negative stuff written in your notes in dr's code...)

You don't really need 2 different private docs if the diagnosis is done correctly!

good luck with op btw.

Thanks. I am having it after my exams. There is a 70% success rate. It will be an ACL reconstruction using hamstring if anyone is interested

[sammyc]

You don't really need 2 different private docs if the diagnosis is done correctly!

granted; was purely speculating on the odds of your maybe getting a private dr. who agreed with the nhs dr., & how much your correct diagnosis was down to the individual dr. in question.

[SiM]

granted; was purely speculating on the odds of your maybe getting a private dr. who agreed with the nhs dr., & how much your correct diagnosis was down to the individual dr. in question.

ok you have confused me there and I have done advanced bayesian odds inference...

[sammyc]

sammyc logic is another matter entirely.

It will be an ACL reconstruction using hamstring if anyone is interested

interested, but don't require pictures, just in case you were thinking...

[Azza]

I torn my medial and lateral ligaments and fractured some bone in my knee 8 weeks ago. Had to spend 7 weeks in a cast. Ive lost like at least 70% of the muscle in my leg I think. I started private physio on monday, I got the letter from the NHS physio on Friday and the waiting list before I can make an appointment is... 8 weeks!!!

The private physio says that it will be at least 13 weeks until my ligaments are right again.


My MRI scan is apparently going to be 2-4 weeks time, but the doctor (NHS) said I wouldnt need and operation, but they have still booked me in to have an MRI scan to check it out. Im predicting that it will reveal that ill need an operation.

[r_j_k_p]

The Sports Surgery Clinic, Dublin

its weird my mate is having the same surgery in month or 2

[Rishi_Rich]

nhs is dire stupid waiting times are like long as well

[SiM]

I torn my medial and lateral ligaments and fractured some bone in my knee 8 weeks ago. Had to spend 7 weeks in a cast. Ive lost like at least 70% of the muscle in my leg I think. I started private physio on monday, I got the letter from the NHS physio on Friday and the waiting list before I can make an appointment is... 8 weeks!!!

The private physio says that it will be at least 13 weeks until my ligaments are right again.


My MRI scan is apparently going to be 2-4 weeks time, but the doctor (NHS) said I wouldnt need and operation, but they have still booked me in to have an MRI scan to check it out. Im predicting that it will reveal that ill need an operation.

Harsh mate, I know how it feels. I lost at least 70% of my muscle too, and I am back up to about 80% compared to my good leg. But after surgery it might lose more again, as I will be on crutches for a couple of weeks

Its a good decision going private, I was covered under my dad's policy all along, but didn't bother going private until now. I should have done it last June.

If your ligaments are torn, they will never heal. Ligaments are under a huge amount of tension and they do not get much blood, so they never heal. Your muscles can adapt to do the job of the ligaments though. The NHS thought my anterior cruciate was at worst partially torn, so they thought that I might not need surgery. To be fair I did miss 3 months of physio (that set my recovery back a bit), whilst I was working full time over summer.

The MRI is the most important thing. I think I downplayed my pain too much, so the NHS didn't think it was torn...

The Sports Surgery Clinic, Dublin

its weird my mate is having the same surgery in month or 2

Its a very common injury

[dave87]

nhs is dire stupid waiting times are like long as well

What an insightful post...personal experience or did you just scan the Sun?

[Rishi_Rich]

thx yeah personal experience dont read newspapers