When you Leave
You will be advised by your consultant or your nurse when you
are able to go home and will be given any post treatment medication
to take away with you.
If you are undergoing general anaesthetic or are a day case
patient, you should ensure that you arrange to be collected and you
remain in the care of a
responsible adult for the remainder of the day, or night.
Please be aware that you must not drive a car, ride a bicycle,
operate machinery or drink alcohol 24 hours after anaesthetic.
Follow up care
If you need to see your consultant again following your
discharge, an out-patient appointment will be made before you leave
or you will be notified of your appointment as soon as possible
after your discharge.
Following you discharge if you have any concerns, questions or
are in need of advice please telephone the hospital and speak to
the senior nurse on duty.
Settling your account
Insured patients
If you are covered by private medical insurance, it is important
that you tell your insurers of the proposed admission date and
treatment necessary. Some insurance companies require a claim form
to be completed by both yourself and either your GP or specialist
(Consultant). Wherever possible this should be
completed and returned prior to your admission. In the case of
company cover, a claim form signed by your company’s representative
is also required.
Hospitals are unable to provide advance details of the
Anaesthetist who will be attending for your operation. All
insurance companies including BUPA are fully aware of this, and
therefore will only confirm to patients that they will pay the
benefit maximum for Anaesthetists. In the unlikely event that any
Anaesthetist does not work within insurance company guidelines, the
insurance companies have informed us that any difference in cost
would be minimal to the patient. For further information please
contact your insurance company.
There will usually be three invoices:
- Hospital charges
- Consultant Surgeon or Physician fees (unless your hospital
charges on behalf of the Consultant)
- Consultant Anaesthetist fees
There may be additional invoices from other Consultants or
Pathology services relating to your care. These invoices will
normally be sent directly to your insurance company. However some
Consultant Surgeons and Consultant Anaesthetists are self
accounting. This means they may send their invoice direct to your
home address. Please forward these to your insurer.
All charges are pre-agreed with your insurance company and
therefore copy invoices are not normally sent to you by the
hospital.
Uninsured and fixed cost care patients
If you are paying for your treatment yourself, or are
undertaking treatment under our Fixed Cost Care scheme, you will
have been informed beforehand which procedures and services are
included in the price. Please be aware that some
pre-admission tests and pre and post operative consultations may
not be included. You will be expected to settle your account before
admission. Where it is not possible to provide a guideline price or
a Fixed Cost Care Package, and where we are unable to estimate
exactly the treatment, a deposit will be required prior to
admission. You (or your representative) will be kept regularly
informed on costs incurred and further payments on account will be
required, if necessary.
Overseas insurers
Most overseas insurance companies expect patients to settle
accounts on admission and to reclaim the costs at a later date. We
will, therefore, ask for payment on admission to the hospital
although special arrangements can sometimes be made on request.
Personal charges
Most hospitals will expect you to settle your account for
personal charges (telephone calls, visitor’s meals and newspapers
etc) on discharge. If this is not the case an invoice will be
forwarded to you for payment.
Follow-up care
If you need to see your Consultant again following your
discharge, an outpatient appointment will be made before you leave
or you will be notified of your appointment as soon as possible
after your discharge. Following your discharge, if you have any
concerns or questions or are in need of advice, please telephone
the hospital and speak to the senior nurse on duty.
For performance information about Ramsay Health Care facilities
please go to the Care Quality Commission website:
http://www.carequalitycommission.org.uk/.
To review the latest patient satisfaction results for Ramsay Health
Care carried out by The Leadership Factor go to: www.ramsayfeedback.com.