I’ve been referred by my GP for a brain MRI due to MS symptoms. Unfortunately there is an 18 week waiting list at my local hospital so I won’t be scanned until mid March.
I asked my GP to send a referral to a local private hospital, and they have booked me in for next Tuesday. Obviously it will cost me (£400), and I’m now questioning if I am doing the right thing.
Has anyone else gone down this route? Would it be better to wait for the NHS appointment and go from there?
If time is money and you can afford it, just do it. The hard bit will be next: getting an appointment with a neurologist to interpret the MRI images and report.
Hi Mark. I do understand your concerns…personally I would rather pay to see a neurologist. That’s what I did 20+ years ago. He/she will be more useful. Your GP cant diagnose MS.
Boudsx
I continued to see that neurologist privately for the LP that confirmed the provisional RRMS dx and for the formal dx consultation and was referred on to his NHS list thereafter.
It is worth saying that this was 20+ years ago. Only hospital specialists (whether working privately or in the NHS) would usually commission MRIs of the CNS in those days. I have no idea what happens with a GP-commissioned scan, who reads it, who interprets the results etc. Your GP will have much better up to date idea on how it all works these days, as will posters on here whose experience is more recent than mine.