Hi there!
I was just wondering if anyone here could reccomend a good neurologist in Somerset that will see me privately if I self refer?
Thanks in advance
Sass x
Bumping this for you Sass in the hope it doesn’t fall off the bottom of the page! 
It may be worth giving your local MS Society group a call (or even popping along to a meeting). I’m sure you’ll get some good feedback on the best neuro’s, and someone may know which ones also work privately.
Mags xx
Forgot to say - may be worth putting your location in the title of your post, if you can modify it.
Where abouts are you x
Hi Zoe
I’m in Wells, Somerset.
x
i see prof scolding in frenchay hosp, bristol… i would say that’s worth a trip. not sure if he sees private patients, you could look him up… xxxxx
I also believe, contary to previous advice, that you cannot self-refer. But I can’t see why the existing GP should unreasonably refuse to do it, IF the patient is going private anyway, and therefore no impact on NHS budgets.
However, if they still won’t, you could pay for a private GP appointment (about £30 on BUPA I think), and have them refer to one of their own neuros.
I don’t know about Professor Scolding, but Doctor Cottrell, on the same team, definitely does private work, as he first diagnosed me, on BUPA. As the insurance stops paying for chronic conditions post diagnosis, he simply referred me to himself on the NHS, and I carried on seeing him still.
He is nice, although I find he can be slightly abrupt and set in his ways sometimes - e.g. a bit dismissive of symptoms that aren’t textbook MS. However, I have no qualms about his competence as a neuro. I think he already knew I had MS on first consultation - the rest was just proving it! There were a few anxious waits when it briefly looked as if it might be something even more serious (Yes, there are such things…), but these seemed to be the result of a laboratory mishap, as when it was retested, they couldn’t get the same result. It wasn’t something that would clear up by itself, so the earlier result must have been mistaken. I later learnt the test is extremely sensitive to contamination, so if lab practice is not absolutely scrupulous, it can yield false positives. Not Dr. Cottrell’s fault, as he only instructs the lab what to test - he can’t control how reliable they are.
It did cause me a bit of unnecessary angst, though.
Tina
x
I don’t want to cause an argument but please look at this doc. You do NOT need a referral http://www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/892.aspx as in the context of your case it may be a little embarrassing to say to a GP you’re not doing your job so give me someone who will.
G
I too see Prof Scolding/Dr Cottrell at Frenchay and have always found the whole team very good. Always have been there for me over the past 9 years. Might be worth a trip from Wells.
Good luck with it.
Shazzie xx
I think the referral issue may be down to the discretion of the neurologist (well, that’s what private secretary told me anyway)? I know that mine will, and have taken a friend to see him when her GP flat out refused to refer. I think the best thing is to call their private secretary and ask.
If a GP won’t refer on the NHS, but is prepared to refer privately, I think they can charge for a private referral letter (£10?). I think it’s definitely worth asking them (the GP) as it shows that you’re serious in your request and gives them a chance to change their mind (and may help to smooth things over if you don’t want to change your GP ;-)).
I didn’t know about the privare GP referral Tina and that’s useful to know, thank you. In cases where someone isn’t really sure where they need directing (and gets little support from their GP), it’s much cheaper than seeing the wrong specialist.
Mags xx
I have heard good things about Dr Lyons at the RUH, Bath. He is available privately at the Bath Clinic (and could refer you to himself (like in Tina’s experience).
Alternatively, Dr Giffen at the Circle Bath (private) could refer you to herself at RUH. (I have only met her in the context of her being my wife’s Parkinsons consultant.
I guess that from Wells, Bath is easier to get to - but Frenchhay is the regional MS centre.
Geoff
Just to clarify, you should not have to pay for an NHS GP to refer to a neuro, just because the neuro is private! I never had to, anyway. My GP simply queried whether I had private health insurance - turned out I did - so she made a referral to the local Spire (private) hospital. No fee involved just for the referral, because this is an NHS service - it doesn’t make any difference whether they’re referring to somebody else in the NHS, or to a private consultant.
Where the private referral comes in is if you cannot persuade any NHS GP to do it for you - because they don’t believe it’s justified, or whatever - there is nothing to stop you seeing a private GP, who could make the referral. Obviously, for this, you’d have to pay, because it’s not the NHS, so they’re not going to do it for nothing. But don’t get conned into paying for an NHS referral, just because the person they’re referring to isn’t in NHS. The only difference from their point of view is where to send it, so there shouldn’t be a fee attached for something they do all the time anyway. The law actually provides that you can mix and match private and NHS care without penalty. So an NHS GP can’t hit you with a referral bill, just because your choice of recipient happens to be in the private sector.
Tina