What happens if I want to have private surgery?

At some point in our lives most of us will need to undergo a surgical procedure. For individuals with haemophilia, this is often an orthopaedic procedure required for the relief of chronic pain secondary to haemophilia associated joint damage caused by previous bleeds into the joint. As UK residents these and many other services are available free through the NHS. Current national guidelines recommend that all surgery for people with haemophilia are undertaken at or under the guidance of their clinical care co-ordination centre.

It is therefore advised that all surgical procedures for people with haemophilia or other bleeding disorders who are under the care of a haemophilia centre receive their treatment at an NHS hospital so that appropriate supervision and care is possible.

However, an individual may wish to pursue private care in some cases.

The following link guides patients who wish to pay for additional private care:

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/nhs-services-and-treatments/if-i-pay-for-private-treatment-how-will-my-nhs-care-be-affected

Key points to note: the NHS cannot pay for or subsidise your private hospital treatment. For patients with haemophilia, this means that the NHS is unable to pay for factor replacement for you at the private hospital. That is, you either must have both the operation on the NHS and factor replacement through the NHS or pay for both the operation and factor replacement privately. The latter can be a very costly endeavour.

Please feel free to contact a member of the medical team at your centre for further information.

_{Ref: BLOOD MATTERS, Oxford Haemophilia Services, Autumn 2022}