private surgery
11 October 2013 - 10:04am
Good morning all, not sure if I am out of order here as I have just joined to find out more about Carpal Tunnel for my wife, who is waiting for an appointment to see our local GP (Deal area) she was told to wear a hand splint for a month and then come back to the surgery, as referrals for hand surgery were being scaled back, due to costs... now my question is does Michael Nicholas do private surgery at the Q E Q M.. as I do not want my wife to suffer with this problem any longer....sorry if I have trod on any toes, any details welcome
regards John
No all Michael's operations are NHS. It's a good idea to try a splint for a few weeks first as that will solve the problem for some patients with milder CTS and no more will be required. That's not really a matter simply of cost but just trying the safest and least invasive treatment first. Only a minority of cases end up with surgery overall. If splinting fails then the next step should be nerve conduction tests to see how bad a problem we are dealing with - from there on decisions on treatment should take into account the nerve conduction results and any other personal factors and other diseases that may be present - it can be quite a complicated decision and it's worth remembering that a few people are permanently disabled by surgery. JB