not happy with consultant

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User

Posted 15 Sep 2022 at 11:03

I have T2 cancer, the details were given to me by a consultant with Zero bedside manners almost take or leave.I want to change to the one who did the biopsy,I can by going private which in itself is not a problem. But I am not sure if this is possible and what are the ramifications for any different treatment on the NHS.

has anyone else had this problem

User

Posted 15 Sep 2022 at 12:26

It might be an idea to have a chat with your clinical nurse specialist, assuming these two consultants are at the same hospital. The CNS might be able to arrange a switch. It probably won't be the first time they've heard this.

As an NHS patient, you have a right to be referred to any NHS hospital which will accept you, so you can choose another hospital. There's no guarantee you'll end up with a consultant you prefer. Under the NHS you don't technically have the right to choose a consultant, only the hospital, although most hospitals will try and give you consistency by seeing the same consultant every time.

You can of course go privately, and some of the NHS rules are to allow patients to choose to have some parts of their treatment privately and other parts on the NHS, and the NHS is required to cooperate by sharing scans, test results, etc with your private provider (and expects the private provider to do the same). However, it often doesn't work as smoothly as you might hope. Prostate cancer is not just the main treatment - it involves other things as well such as support by clinical nurse specialists, ED/andrology consultants, continence support, medications for these side effects, etc. These are not usually included in private treatment, and it can be difficult to get back onto this pathway in the NHS if you didn't have your main treatment in the NHS. You can of course do these privately too.

User

Posted 15 Sep 2022 at 17:00

My husband (Mike) has had treatment from both private and NHS services. We started off privately really to get a quick consultation and this was done within 2 days. He had the CT scan privately with the MRI and Bone scan done in the NHS. We then saw the Oncologist for one meeting privately to hear the final results of all the tests. Since then Mike has gone back into the NHS for his chemotherapy and other treatments and remains under the care of the Oncologist he saw as a private patient. From personal experience my thoughts on care wihtin both sectors is to make sure that the Consultant you see privately works as well in the NHS. This is what I did for Mike and it paid off for us.

Hope you manage to get your care sorted as it is such a worrying time for all.

User

Posted 15 Sep 2022 at 21:05

After my NHS diagnosis I had my prostatectomy carried out privately by the same urologist I was seeing on the NHS. The only reason I opted to go private was the very long waiting time on the NHS for the same surgery. I didn't have too much of a problem switching back to NHS but I would agree with Andy. I didn't get the peripheral help and support with continence, ED etc until I was back with the NHS. Nearly three months had elapsed by that time since surgery. Ironically the private hospital offloaded me back to the NHS when I developed post operative complications while I was technically still under their care. It wasn't until I read the small print in the T&C that I found out they could actually do this. Poor of communication between the two hospitals resulted in a poor patient experience. I don't regret making that choice. It got me my prostatectomy probably nine months sooner but things did not go as smoothly as I had imagined.

User

Posted 16 Sep 2022 at 16:01

Will that consultant be the one who treats you? I saw a urologist consultant for diagnosis. He passed me on to a surgeon. I could have chosen a different route but it would still be a different consultant.

User

Posted 16 Sep 2022 at 21:10

The one I saw is a surgeon,

User

Posted 16 Sep 2022 at 22:50

Surgeon's are practical people and theoretically don't need a good bedside manner as long as they do the job. Most surgeons have their record on https://www.baus.org.uk/. Mine didn't waste any time but his record seemed good enough.

User

Posted 17 Sep 2022 at 20:02

My urologist had a non-existent bedside manner, but his record showed him to be an excellent surgeon, which personally I think is a far more important consideration!

Best wishes,

Chris

User

Posted 17 Sep 2022 at 22:54

I wouldn't be bothered about a bad bedside manner. In fact I prefer it. My reason being that if I were doing that job I would look at patients as slabs of meat which are broken and need fixing, and because I have been trained to fix them that is as much as they can expect of me. If there is a clinical nurse specialist CNS to deal with the emotional mess of a diagnosis all the better.

However I wouldn't be happy if the medic came across as arrogant, that can be someone who is rubbish at the job trying to cover their faults.

Anyway, you can probably guess that my interpersonal skills are pretty appalling, and that's why I work with computers not people.

Edited by member 18 Sep 2022 at 14:54 | Reason: Not specified

Dave

User

Posted 19 Sep 2022 at 18:58

Peter, maybe the reason your consultant had zero bedside manner has to do with the appalling pressure the NHS is under?

That was certainly my impression when diagnosed with PCa, albeit 14 years ago now.

Whilst lying on the couch awaiting my digital examination - something you hope will be in complete privacy - he was interrupted no less than 6 times by staff wanting help with issues they were dealing with, one of which was an emergency. Each time I was left lying there as he went off to sort out the problem. It's hardly surprising his manner was gruff.

Another later time I saw him it was no better. I was obliged to wait a full two hours beyond the time of my appointment before I was eventually called in. At a previous appointment he had swiftly outlined my treatment options - prostatectomy, radiotherapy, hormone therapy, watch and wait, etc, and this was to be my chance to ask him further questions before making a decision. Ten minutes into the consultation I had barely got beyond the first question before he abruptly interrupted to tell me my ten minutes were up!

I was dumbfounded and bewildered because I was still trying to get my head around all of the options and remained uncertain which to opt for. But he explained he was already running very late, it was around 7pm and he still had a queue of patients to see.

As a result of that shocking experience I decided to exercise my right to choose a different hospital (something that may no longer be possible under the NHS? not sure).

A few months later I met someone who had been treated privately by him who, to my astonishment, was full of admiration for this same consultant. He described how patient and helpful he was and how he could not do enough for him. I had a hard time trying to convince him how my experience of him was so completely different.

I do not doubt that the consultant in question (who has since passed away, RIP) was a top surgeon, one who had achieved quite a reputation. Given my RARP at the alternative hospital I chose did not go too well I somewhat regret not deciding to disregard that first consultant's gruff manner because I suspect he might well have done a better job and I may not have had to deal with some of the fall-out I since ended up with.

User

Posted 20 Sep 2022 at 05:49

First meeting with my urologist he did what he needed to but that was that. Left me feeling a little short changed. Second time he was absolutely fine. However, he left the question and answer session with the uro-oncology nurse who being a specialist could answer my questions or take questions away and come back later with answers. Met two surgeons and anaesthetist. All were to the point but I found them also open and friendly I could not expect anymore and would consider them first rate in fact.

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