Tonsillitis - Waiting times

jessbud

Hi all. My five year old suffers terrible with tonsilitis and sent off a referal letter to Crumlin Hospital four weeks ago to get them taken out.

My question is does anyone know how long it generally takes to get an appointment with a consultant? Or should I try some of the other hospitals.

cbyrd

This is not going to help you at all..

My nephew had his tonsils out after 4 years waiting.. he was so bad he used to wake up during the night gasping for breath!! he got them out last saturday and the hospital were shocked just how big they were.. they've been taken away to be weighed because they think they were the largest and heaviest tonsils ever removed in a child in Ireland..:eek::eek::D His voice was really deep for years and he always talked like he had marbles in his mouth and his voice is gone really high now he sounds like a chipmunk:D poor kid is so embarrased he won't talk..but he'll be back to normal in a few weeks..:D

They live in Tullamore and his letter was sent out to Dublin when they were living in meath but it was done on the payment scheme cos he was so long waiting.
Best of luck with it anyway

Penny Dreadful

If you have private health insurance I'd suggest you do it that way. My nephew had serious problems with his and the wait list in Crumlin was years (also, there is always a real chance that your procedure will be cancelled when going through the public system) so his parents opted to have the procedure done in Mount Carmel instead. All went fine and he is fighting fit again.

jessbud

Thanks for the replies. God didn't think it'd be that long a wait. Don't have health insurance unfortunatley but was talking to partner tonight about going private with our son as can bear the thoughts of him having to put up with this every month.

Cybrd your poor nephew that sounds horrible for him, at least now they are out and hopefully he will want to talk soon. I coudn't imagine having to wait 4 years that is disgraceful. I'm in shock I really thought I'd get an appointment soon and have them out by the end of the year at the latest but not looking that way now.

Going to ring around tomorrow and see how much it'll be to go private.

Penny Dreadful

jessbud wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. God didn't think it'd be that long a wait. Don't have health insurance unfortunatley but was talking to partner tonight about going private with our son as can bear the thoughts of him having to put up with this every month.

Cybrd your poor nephew that sounds horrible for him, at least now they are out and hopefully he will want to talk soon. I coudn't imagine having to wait 4 years that is disgraceful. I'm in shock I really thought I'd get an appointment soon and have them out by the end of the year at the latest but not looking that way now.

Going to ring around tomorrow and see how much it'll be to go private.

It will be expensive to pay for the procedure privately yourself. You will have to pay not only for the consultant who carrys out the operation but also the anaesthetist (and often their services are way more expensive than the surgeon's), the other staff in theatre, nurses, etc. Then there is the cost of the overnight stay (which you would be well advised to do, especially if your little one goes down to theatre later in the day), the breakfast, etc. It all adds up. Then you will also have to consider (sincerely hope this would never in a million years happen) the event of your child needing ICU care, if you require this your bills will go through the roof.
Put your child's name on the public waiting list, that costs nothing anyway. After you have done this take time to consider your options re: paying privately. You may well get called sooner than we all think on the public list, its rare but not unknown. Also if your child happens to be getting sicker then you can push and push for it to be done on the NTPF and it could be done really fast.
Good luck with it.

jessbud

Just got a letter from curmlin hospital with an appointment for the consultant.

August 2011

Are they for real, over a year just to see the consultant and then to be put on the waiting list, which will probably be over a year long.

So looking at three years before he gets his op. I am disgusted.

Going to have to ring a private clinic and try and get him seen to.

Penny Dreadful

jessbud wrote: »

Just got a letter from curmlin hospital with an appointment for the consultant.

August 2011

Are they for real, over a year just to see the consultant and then to be put on the waiting list, which will probably be over a year long.

So looking at three years before he gets his op. I am disgusted.

Going to have to ring a private clinic and try and get him seen to.

You could get a private appointment for your son to be seen and pay the €200 (generally what it would cost) for his/her opinion on your son's tonsils. Ask them what your options are then re: public or private for the procedure. Please note what I said in my earlier post re: costs for carrying out the full operation privately. It can run to several thousand euro and that is without requiring an ICU stay. You could bankrupt yourselves.

blueshel

Hi jess bud.
Will you post some of the quotes you got to have the opp done privately
Many thanks

StillWaters

Once you get to see the consultant, the wait for the operation will be no longer than 3 months, if it is you get the operation done under the National Treatment Purchase Fund (thats how my daughter got her tonsils done).

blueshel

My daughter is now 3 days past her tonsil opp .:) She had it done in a private hospital in Galway on Wed eve. It was done private at a cost of 2500 from start to finish. Once she seen a consultant in his rooms, the opp was done 6 days later. She is a new girl since op, like a total different 5 year old with bags of energy.

I'm glad now i didn't wait, its endless suffering all round when it comes to public waiting lists. From been told my daughter needed her tonsils out, it took 3 weeks start to finish

mariebeth

I got my tonsils out last September, luckily I had private health insurance so was able to go privately. Think the cost to the health insurance crowd was around the 2,000 mark - so you'll probably be looking at something like that if ye go private.