Second opinion

My niece was at PRUs hospital Farnborough Kent, where without any compassion or kindness informed that she has MS by a “lady” consultant.

Without doubting that the consultant was correct in her diagnosis the family would be happy if someone could recommend in the Greater London area a doctor who would reinstall faith in her coming treatment, in other words a specialist with a bedside manner who is respected.

I’m sure many on here would agree - Charing Cross Hospital have a fantastic neurology team - I’m under Dr Nicholas and he’s brilliant but long waiting list to see him. I’m sure people on here can recommend others

Hi Karina,

Thank you I’ll tell her your advice.

It’s not GLA but I have ‘heard’ that Dr Redmond (Canterbury NHS or Chaucer (private)) is an MS specialist and is one of the good ones…other than that, I would hazzard to say that some consultants have a better bedside manner when consulting them privately (from personal experience)…

Tbh, bedside manner is a nice to have rather than a need to have. In my opinion, the most important things are access to DMDs (disease modifying drugs - not all neuros can prescribe them) and knowledge (which leads to support for the patient in terms of meds and referrals to other specialists). A really nice, understanding neuro who lacks these is pretty useless.

If you just want a second opinion, then the “Near me” function on here will give you the names of MS specialist neuros who meet these two criteria at least. If you are looking for someone to take over the care of your niece long-term, then remember that a lot of people with MS have more contact with their MS nurse than with their neuro so, whatever you do, make sure she is on the local nurse’s books (I don’t know if it’s possible to have a neuro in one area, but a nurse in another and it’s probably better to have a less than friendly neuro and a local nurse than a lovely neuro, but no local nurse / a nurse based a long way away).

Btw, Richard Nicholas has the reputation of being both very kind and very knowledgeable. I think he has a private practice in Windsor, so if you can afford it, you could jump the (long!) NHS queue. I see one of his colleagues, Omar Malik, who is very highly respected and knowledgeable as well as very personable. He has clinics at Charing Cross and Hillingdon Hospitals.

Hth.

Karen x