Hi All,
To my surprise, I've just received a bill in the post for diagnostics carried out eight months before !
I didn't think I'd gotten away with it, in the sense that I assumed that they'd forgotten to bill me. I had been referred to the NHS hospital by a private consultant as I was going private at the time and I had expected to be charged. I subsequently assumed that as a charge hadn't been raised, it was classed as a NHS treatment in the same manner that my course of RT was.
I'm now aware that the going rate for a choline PET/MR is £2000 http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/editors/tiny_mce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif although to be honest, I had expected it to be in that region and quite likely more.
So while it's not going to force me into bankruptcy, it's a post-Christmas surprise and January is a long month !
The delay of 8 months is in stark contrast to paying privately at my local NHS hospital. There you get billed up front and the inference is clear that if you don't pay up, the treatment won't go ahead - good policy, I only wish they applied it to visitors to UK as well.
What is slightly galling is that, because I had wrongly assumed it to be NHS, I didn't bother to claim hotel fees and fares for the cancelled at the very last moment appointment of a fortnight before - wish I had done now !
Bottom line though, is that it is a legitimate charge so no moans from me - except I just wish they had sorted out their admin a few months earlier !
Dave
Not "Why Me?" but "Why Not Me"? |
User
Unlucky timing Dave,
Shouldn't be too late to make claim for your cancelled treatment if it is justified.
dave
All we can do - is do all that we can. So, do all you can to help yourself, then make the best of your time. :-) I am the statistic. |
User
I was cancelled twice by the NHS for a Choline-PET. They offered to pay hotel and travel which I thought was good . Premier Inn twice let me off the hotel fee even though id booked the cheap " no alterations " option . Bless them . I didn't claim for petrol.
Not the letter you wanted but as Dave says , try for the hotel by all means
Chris
User
Dave,
How unfortunate a NHS Consultant did not recommend the expensive scan, something others may take note of. It illustrates a point made by Wanless in a report comparing Britain's health services with those of Germany and France.
...it acknowledged that the NHS underfunding had failed to deliver a system fit for the 21st centuary and including life expectancy, cancer survival and infant mortality, Britain is the sick man of Europe.
The superior performance of health services in France and Germany is not simply the result of greater public investment but owes a great deal to the evolution of a hybrid system of funding medical care.
Although Britain spends less on health than it's European neighbours, the set up is unencumbered by the division between private and public sector that exists in the UK.
While UK health care is firmly split into NHS and private sector care - with one being paid for by the state and the latter being funded from people's savings or medical insurance - the European model keeps the boundaries flexible......
I seem to remember Roy paid about the same for a 68 Gallium PSMA scan in Munich which is said to be a superior scan for PCa. Interestingly, if you need this scan it can be had in Australia for amounts varying from $590 - $1200 depending on the hospital and area I read.
Barry |
User
Well. there was a sting in the tail.
Two days ago I received a demand for payment.
I pointed out to them that my cheque to them had cleared from my account on February 16th of this year.
They came back and said that it turned out that the cheque had been credited to another patient of the same name !
( who besides having the same full name as me, presumably owed the same amount. hmmm! )
They mentioned something about my account number not being on the cheque - it wasn't asked for, and I would have expected my letter accompanying the cheque with full details would have done the trick.
Excuses, I think.
Even if there may be nothing fishy about this, I'm not impressed with UCLH's admin.
Dave
Not "Why Me?" but "Why Not Me"? |
User
They aren't asking you to pay again are they Dave?
We can't control the winds - but we can adjust our sails |
User
No, they have now accepted that I have paid.
But I did wonder if the 'other person of the same name' is actually a duplication of my details ( I have been to UCLH twice) they might decide that account is now in debit and send me a bill - who knows?
Dave
Not "Why Me?" but "Why Not Me"? |
User
My sister attends the same hospital for her heart condition as a woman with the same name and a heart problem. It's weird
We can't control the winds - but we can adjust our sails |