Re: This is an Emergency!!!

[Guest guest]

Dear Tia,

I am sorry that I haven't replied to you sooner.

I live in the UK and a lot of the doctors on that list are local to me.

I cannot recommend any of them as I have never used them.

I am not quite sure why you are coming to the UK to see a doctor. Is it

to have a specific operation carried out?

With regards to managing a pregnancy - I have classical EDS and have

had four pregnancies that resulted in miscarriage (not due to EDS). I

have been seeing a high risk pregnancy specialist. This specialist is a

specialist in high risk pregnancies - he knows all about EDS - BUT he

had never seen an EDS patient until he saw me. He is a professional and

did all his research and saw me before I got pregnant to discuss how he

would manage a pregnancy. Perhaps your doctors in Greece could do some

research in medical literature and on the internet. But, I am lucky

in that I happen to live near a very good specialist maternity hospital

- is there one near you in Greece that your GP can refer you to? The

maternity hospital is NHS and so is the specialist, so I do not believe

that they take on private patients.

This leads me to my next question. Is Greece a full member of the EU?

If it is (and I am not sure about this) you can travel anywhere in the

EU and get medical treatment free. This is why a lot of people in the

UK are going to France for operations - as the wait is shorter than in

the UK.

Unfortunately, the list the Jill has does not say whether the doctors

are working privately or on the NHS or both - some specialists in the

UK (for example my cardiologist) work a few days a week privately and a

few in the NHS. What I do know is that I imagine it will be quite

hard to enter the UK medical system from abroad. To see a GP you have

to be local and preferably registered. To see a specialist of any sort

you have to be referred (with a referral letter) from you GP after your

GP has evaluated you. If you are seeing someone on the NHS you then get

onto the waiting list. If you are going privately to the specialist,

once they have the referral letter they will let you book an

appointment (usually the wait is a week or two). The good news is

once you have seen a specialist you are " in the system " and they can

transfer you around. For example - I saw my NHS GP and asked to see a

cardiologist - he said the NHS wouldn't do this for me - so I said I

would pay privately and the GP referred me - the cardiologist that

thought I needed to see a geneticist for pregnancy advice - and I saw

her under the NHS - she then transferred me to an NHS specialist at the

maternity hospital in high risk pregnancies. They key is getting your

referral letter in the first place. 95 per cent of GPs in the UK are

NHS and no doctor above GP level will see you without a referral letter

from your GP in the UK. I know this to be the case as my husband

wanted to see an allergy specialist at the local private hospital and

our GP wouldn't write the referral letter - and the private hospital

would not give him an appointment with out a referral - in the end the

GP gave in after we complained to the head of the practice.

The main point I am trying to make is this:

* Decide what you are trying to achieve - who do you need to see and

why.

* Find out if you can see a doctor in Greece who will do a little EDS

research before they see you, as it is always better to have doctors

nearer to home.

* If you want a specific operation that cannot be carried out in

Greece, find out where the best country for this may be - France has a

medical system that is a lot better that the UK's.

* Find out if Greece is a full EU member - as treatment may then be

free to you abroad.

* Please be aware the doctors in the UK are mainly NHS - waits are long

and there is underfunding - but it is free and if you have a condition

such as EDS I have found that they do everything to push you to the top

of the waiting list. I have also found that specialists are more than

willing to do research into EDS to help the patient.

* It is impossible to get an appointment to see a specialist (anything

above GP level) without a referral letter from your UK GP.

* I would recommend you GP in Greece or your specialist use their

position as your doctor to make enquiries on your behalf about either

specialists in Greece who are prepared to do research and work with

you, or doctors abroad- then your doctors can make the introductions

for you and deal with the referral process.

I hope this helps you in some way.

Fay.