Pressures in the NHS have increasingly seen our patients seeking private care for help with their helath issues. There are ever growing numbers of private providers across all specialities. As a practice we have no way of quality assuring their diagnostic processes, their treatment plans and recommendations, or their care.
Where a private provider recommends a treatment that falls within our competence and confidence to prescribe, and where the reason for prescribing is felt to be safe and appropriate, we would typically adopt this advice and incorporate it into your care.
Where private providers start patients on drugs that are classed as Amber, Red or Black we do not feel that it would be within the scope of our practice to take on the risks of either monitoring or prescribing. This is on the basis that we cannot reasonably assure ourselves as to the level of ongoing support available to us in the eventuality that there are abnormalities on your monitoring, or there is an issue with side effects or the stability of your condition.
Where you have asked us to refer you for private care, where relevant we would always seek to counsel you beforehand, of the risk that we may not be able to prescribe. Where we have been unable to accept a shared care request from a private provider, we would always seek to offer you an NHS referral in order to give you the option of continuing your care via that route.