PATIENT INFORMATON FOR PRIVATE REFERRALS
If you have consulted with your GP and advised that you would like a private referral, please check with your insurance company that they will authorise this referral (and potential resultant investigations and treatments). You can also make self-funded private appointments if you are uninsured. It is important to remember that a private consultation will not result in further NHS specialist care being received quicker, and any further care or tests advised will need to be funded privately.
You will need to contact the relevant private hospital and department and make the private appointment yourself – your GP will have advised you which department /speciality to contact.
Once you have made the appointment, please phone the surgery to give us your details; we need:
· The name of the hospital you plan to attend
· The name of the Specialist
· The contact details for that Specialist
· The date and time of the appointment
· Your preferred contact details
When making your appointment in the private sector, please remember that you will need to allow our Practice 5 working days’ notice, to give us time to get your referral letter ready. You will not be charged for this letter, and you will need to collect it prior to your appointment.
You may receive a prescription when you see the consultant privately. If the pharmacy at the hospital is closed, then your private prescription can be taken to any chemist. The practice is not obliged to convert your private prescription to an NHS prescription. Depending on the drug prescribed privately, a consultation with the GP, or receipt of a letter from the prescribing clinician may be required to convert your private prescription to an NHS prescription.
The practice reserves the right to change the medication to a suitable alternative.
Any investigations (including blood tests and X-rays or scans) required, as a result of your private consultation, should be conducted privately at the site of consultation. Such investigations will incur costs, for which you will be responsible.
If the Clinician in the private sector requests that your tests are undertaken at the Practice, the practice will charge you for those investigations and so will the relevant Health Board department. The practice can provide you with estimated costs for blood tests. Estimated costs may need to be paid before the tests are undertaken.
Private X-rays, ultrasound scans, CT scans and MRI scans are undertaken by a Radiology Department. It is your responsibility to locate a facility that offers this service. You will be provided with a Radiology request form for your appointment.
Bloods tests are processed through hospital laboratories or may be requested to be posted to their consultant by the patient. Please be aware that not all private results are easily accessible on the practice computer system, so it would be a good idea to provide the practice with a copy of your results to be scanned on to your records for future reference.