Just a quick one, our AOR is about 21 months ago, so we are hoping things might start moving shortly. Read a thread the other day by someone who had been turned down due to some trival health reason, medication their daughter was taking.

We have 2 kids, daughter aged 7 and son aged 2. Lauren, our daughter has gromits, fitted in both ears. This was done outside the NHS, due to mainly to a botched NHS op, we decided to take her private and pay. Gromits should probably stay in place for another 6-18 months, Lauren will only require check ups and should not need further ops. My question, has anyone been in a simular situation and gone through medicals? If so did the gromits affect the results of medical, and thus immigration application. Any advice you can give. As we paid for Private op we have all the paperwork to prove that there has been no use of NHS in this instance and we would continue to pay for private care.

We would be devastated to fail on the back of this!!:scared:

Not much help to you, but are you aware that private care is not an option in Canada at this time? Also its geneally the same surgeons performing the work whether you go private or NHS anyway, so the chances of a botched job are much the same I expect.

Yes, very true. However, the only surgeon we could use on the NHS locally, was the same idiot who messed up the 1st op. She went in to have gromits fitted, and he didn't touch her ears, but removed her tonsils. Couldn't believe it!!

Blimey! Grounds for an expensive lawsuit I would think, or at least some hush money!

All the doctors clubbed together and tried to cover each others backs. We decided to just get on with sorting Laurens ears and leave the NHS well alone.

Thats shocking, absolutly awful.Poor child having an unnecessary op isbad enough but a child and with hearing problems too. I hope the hospital has done a hug huge grovel and found out who the mistake was made.

BTW you have a choice now of 4 hospitals for any referral, they may not be convenient but you have a choice and dont have to go back to him

Her ears are perfectly fine now, she has the gromits in place which aids with draining from behind her eardrums. However, as she gets older the situation rectifies itself and the gromits will fall out. She has to have a check up every 3-6 months, which we still pay for as private. But long term other than check ups, there would be no demand on Canadian health care.

After reading that post the other day though, we are just a little concerned.

Not sure what you mean by this? - My wife was booked in for surgery in the UK to have metal work removed from her leg/ankle (as a result of an operation after a horse riding accident). By the time the due date came round we'd already moved to BC. She could have flown back to the UK for the surgery, but we chose for her to have it done privately at a clinic in Kamloops by an excellent surgeon who also works at the local hospital.

Iain is right. My understanding, from the course i have just taken on canadian healthcare, is that clinics/hospitals cannot charge for anything that is available on medicare. All the healthcare facilities are geared up to charging as they claim the funding from the govt, from workers compensation, from insurance companies or from individuals who are not entitled to canadian heathcare. You pay extra for semi-private or private rooms, in hospitals and clinics, but not for the procedure or for public wards and nursing care, in hospital physio, x-rays etc. Maybe you werent entitled to healthcare yet?? is it 3 months in BC? was there an exclusion for a pre-existing condition?

We'd been in BC for a little over 6mths, so were entitled to medicare. Lyn visited the surgeon for a private consultation, had x-rays carried out at the local hospital, then was asked when she'd like the surgery carried out. We were invoiced by both the private clinic and the local hospital separately. She also paid for private physio for 3 months afterwards too. All the air miles collected have been quite useful

Whilst she was at the clinic I met a lady in the waiting room who was paying for hip surgery (after suffering a fall) and a gentleman that was having a knee op. I didn't ask, but have to assume that the procedures weren't just 'cosmetic' and could have been carried out under medicare. Both said it was nice not having to sit on a waiting list.

There was never any discussion about the condition being pre-existing, and the surgeon knew that Lyn had a date booked in the UK for the same procedure (she'd been on a 6mth waiting list there). Can't understand why the opportunity offered her differs from your recent training Batty

This is where she was looked after: http://www.kamloopssurgery.com/index.htm

Well I am baffled too. I will look into this to see if i have been fed duff information or if its a provincial thing. I am in Ontario. I know there are moves afoot to bring in 'private' care for hip and knee surgery to try and shorten the waiting lists. I will ask around. Thanks for the info and the link

You haven't been fed duff information. Elective procedures are easily obtained and paid for...even those that are reasonably not elective can be handily misdescribed if you have the money.

Thanks Dingbat. I Checked too and yes it isnt legal but it happens. Under federal law, private clinics are not legally allowed to provide services covered by medicare but many do. Its controversial - funnily enough- and some want to stop this happening, some want to legalise it.

The OP wanted to be able to say they would continue to pay for private care for followup to grommets, so i dont know how helpful any of this is to them. I suppose its back to whether it's an " unreasonable drain on canadas healthcare system"

The Canadian health care system bans coverage of core services by private insurance companies, allowing supplemental insurance only for perquisites such as private hospital rooms.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/354/16/1661

thats what we said isnt it?