Elainee

Just returned from stay in London where my husband had bad bathroom slip and fall. It was obvious that the cut on his leg would need professional medical attention. Went to private hospital Urgent Care Center at Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth on Grove End Road in St. Johns Wood. The care could not have been better anywhere. Examined by physician, plastic surgeon on call came at 5pm on a Saturday, bandaged, medicated, xrayed all within 2 hours. Returned to hospital at 8am next morning for skin graft. Keep in private room until 7pm when again checked by surgeon (Harvard trained, of course). I will not mention price but much, much lower than USA. Two days later a private agency registered nurse came to our hotel room to give injection and also spent a full hour redressing the skin graft source area (it was a minor wound). That cost 70 pounds. Going to hospital in taxi was difficult for DH so had hotel make nurse arrangement. Another exam and redressing the wound area with pressure packing in hospital before we finally left for home. Of course, the surgeon emailed us to find out how DH did on the flight.
Not good to have problem far from home, but glad it was in London.

janisj

Oh -- that must have been scary. How is he doing now?

Always had good experiences in the UK.

Trophywife007

We had a medical emergency with my dad in York back in '97... The medical care he received was outstanding.

bilboburgler

Interesting and I'd like to understand why you went to a private hospital. This is not any sort of criticism I'm just interested as to why you didn't drop into the NHS? As a Brit I'm just nosy.

huddoshols

Same, same. A few years ago, after a medical condition that occurred whilst away , nothing previous, was so impressed. They just treated me. Never got the monetary details first. Very grateful .

Dukey1

A skin graft???? Interesting.

Elainee

Private hospital because we wanted the attention you get from them.
We have good medical insurance (I hope).

A skin graft because wound on top of lower leg, bad place, difficult healing, and it was injured down to the bone.
Plus small break (called "divot") in fibula.

DH doing well. No way to get compression dressing done on Saturday in NYC even with lots of friend doctors trying to make arrangements. Appointment with plastic surgeon on Tuesday to change dressing and check progress. DH can walk with cane but it still hurts when walking.

I wanted to tell Fodors people of place to get emergency attention if needed in London.

nytraveler

As you know in the US there is now automatic national health coverage - so if we have decent insurance (not an HMO) we are used to shopping for best MDs for whatever we need taken care of. "Public healthcare" - as in city hospital emergency rooms are definitely considered not as good - as well as often being a zoo (waiting many hours to be seen triaged after shooting/stabbing, major car accident and heart attack victims).

Every time I have gone to the ER - even quality private hospital - I have been there at least 8 or 10 hours - even if only for xrays after a minor car accident or confirmation of a kidney stone. Now use free standing urgi-center unless I must go to the ER.

Would never go to a city hospital - even though I know there are excellent MDs at some of them.

hetismij2

The place you went to is fine for minor problems. Anything major, or anything needing attention in the evening/night and you need an NHS hospital.

At least their profits go to fund a free hospice, rather than fat cats.


Glad your husband is doing OK. I hope he continues to heal well. He has a long road ahead with a graft.

Cathinjoetown

After reading the description, I wouldn't necessarily term the OP's husband's problem "minor." I suppose minor is relative compared to a major cardiac event, in which case get me to the nearest ER.

annhig

good point, hetismij - whilst the OP's husband's problem was not exactly minor, it wasn't life-threatening or similar. For that, you need the nearest NHS Accident and Emergency Dept.[A&E]. [ask for the ER and they won't understand you!]

Elainee - it's great to see that your DH got good treatment in London and that he's going to be ok now he's home.

hetismij2

Ok, maybe I should have said life threatening, not minor, but that is when the NHS comes into its own. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Even for changing compression dressings if needed .

bilboburgler

For myself, as a Brit in the UK, I wouldn't dream of going to a private hospital for minor stuff (but this sounds like a bit more) or major stuff (the NHS kit will be more up to date as friends and family regularly witness) but more the boring middle of the range stuff where queues form.

Still good news it all worked and you got service in the hotel which must be a major benefit. Did your hotel link you up, your insurance or google?

Just as a final thought, and probably not in this case you can use these guys to get phone advice on 111 within England. http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNH...s/NHS-111.aspx mainly staffed by nurses and some process analysis supported numpties it actually works pretty well and can get you to the right place within the NHS fast and or to Chemist (Pharmacist?) who offer a range of advice as part of their service.

You'll notice this is an English service so Wales/Scotland have their own similar services "today" only England and Scotland are on 111, Wales is on 0845 4647 (soon to move to 111) and I don't know what happens in NI.

BTW 111 is becoming an EU European wide secondary emergency number to support this sort of thing.

Christina

The US certainly does not have "automatic" health care coverage. YOu still have to buy insurance and pay premiums, if you buy it yourself rather than get it on the job, and the higher the premium, the better the plan. By law, you are supposed to have health insurance, that's all, but even then there are exemptions based on income and if you don't, the fine is currently very low.

And many people have PPOs (NOT HMOs) which still means they are limited to a network by their health plan if they don't want huge copays. And even with PPOs or just regular fee-for-service insurance, many people do indeed shop for doctors based on their fees, because you have to pay a huge portion of the bill, and under FFS (or out of network under a PPO), the doctor can still bill you up to the limit of whatever they want to charge you, there is no cap. So no, most people in the US do not have automatic health insurance nor can they afford to go wherever they want without paying a lot for it.

thursdaysd

@Christina - +1

tom_mn

Automatic Health Coverage??? Hardly, it's still an unenviable mess. I spend at least 40 hrs/year on medical pricing issues: Getting a provider credentialed at the address care was given (yes, going to a provider in the PPO is not sufficient, the address must match and many providers spend different days of the week in different offices), fighting and appealing for coverage to be granted at the policy level, shopping among PPOs for lower prices since those 15% percents can really add up.

Sounds like a glass shower issue and I do dislike the combination of wet floors + glass.

Nikki

I'm thinking there was a typo involved and probably should have read "in the US there is NOT automatic national health coverage".

hetismij2

Like Nikki I assumed it was a typo by our New Yorker.

tom_mn

The NYC medical experience is different from mine. I am unsure what a public hospital is, we don't have those-- maybe there is one but it operates exactly like the private ones. Medical staff is uniformly good, there is no stratification. And never been in an emergency room more than 4 hours, including treatment.

I always prefer shower curtain to glass enclosure for safety.

Elainee

No glass involved. DH slipped stepping out of stall shower. Floor slippery. Probably cut his leg on ledge of shower entrance. Fell very hard with his leg folded behind him.
At home we have grab bars in shower, next to toilet, wherever I think we could use them. Plus small size tiles on floor with lots of grout area so not slippery. But when you travel, things are not the same as at home. London water very soft (low mineral content) so detergents are more active...thus more slippery surfaces.