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Has anyone had any less than stellar experiences with Dr David Ralph in London, UK?

Thanks

He is supposed to be very good. I wish i had had mine done with him

Hi I would only recommend having a private surgery done with Mr Ralph. Unfortunately this is my biggest regret that I didn't. I have had 3 surgeries done at UCLH where Mr Ralph was the consultant/ Surgeon if I had gone directly to him I am sure I wouldn't have needed the 2 revisions. This is a teaching hospital and there will be trainee surgeons partaking under his supervision. My last surgery was because the cylinders had a crossover. I was then stitched up by Mr Ralphs surgeon registrar, these stiches completely come deschised and left me with an open wound that took a couple of months to heal (putting me at greater risk of infection)
I have had a less than optimum outcome because of this.
If you are considering having the NHS surgery I would consider this carefully

BionicLeeroy wrote:Hi I would only recommend having a private surgery done with Mr Ralph. Unfortunately this is my biggest regret that I didn't. I have had 3 surgeries done at UCLH where Mr Ralph was the consultant/ Surgeon if I had gone directly to him I am sure I wouldn't have needed the 2 revisions. This is a teaching hospital and there will be trainee surgeons partaking under his supervision. My last surgery was because the cylinders had a crossover. I was then stitched up by Mr Ralphs surgeon registrar, these stiches completely come deschised and left me with an open wound that took a couple of months to heal (putting me at greater risk of infection)
I have had a less than optimum outcome because of this.
If you are considering having the NHS surgery I would consider this carefully

I had a bad experience with uclh too. I have my revision next month 7 months after original surgery. I changed surgeon and he is optimistic about the fix.

Are you all talking about private treatment or through the NHS?

I am in the UK too and researching it privately as I figure the NHS will take about 3 years before they will offer me the surgery most likely, but more importantly, everyone on here keeps talking about getting the best surgeon or you'll regret it, so I am careful to get someone that has experience, although it is a lot of money.

Hi,

I'm would say from your first consultation with with a NHS doctor at the UCLH.(from my own experience)
You could be implanted within a year, three years sounds crazy.

As they would have to on the first meeting ask if you used any pde5 inhibitor like Viagra. Talk about your sexual history, see if you want to try a VED, arrange for blood work and look at your overall heath for things like sugar diabetes, state of your heart etc.

They would then if the Viagra wasn't working, look at doing a duplex ultrasound and a Sleep monitoring test (NPT).

If you do need an implant, the NHS will book you for in for surgery.
They will/should also offer counselling before the operation as well.
But you can turn this down and still get the surgery.

All this takes time, but even if you go privite you should be having all this done as well.
But by going private, instead of taking up to 6 months before the operation, you could get it all done much sooner.

This is because a private surgeon is more monetary motivated to get you operated on than the NHS.

You don't get to choose who does your operation, but you do get to save about £12000.

redbullmaster wrote:Hi,

I'm would say from your first consultation with with a NHS doctor at the UCLH.(from my own experience)
You could be implanted within a year, three years sounds crazy.

As they would have to on the first meeting ask if you used any pde5 inhibitor like Viagra. Talk about your sexual history, see if you want to try a VED, arrange for blood work and look at your overall heath for things like sugar diabetes, state of your heart etc.

They would then if the Viagra wasn't working, look at doing a duplex ultrasound and a Sleep monitoring test (NPT).

If you do need an implant, the NHS will book you for in for surgery.
They will/should also offer counselling before the operation as well.
But you can turn this down and still get the surgery.

All this takes time, but even if you go privite you should be having all this done as well.
But by going private, instead of taking up to 6 months before the operation, you could get it all done much sooner.

This is because a private surgeon is more monetary motivated to get you operated on than the NHS.

You don't get to choose who does your operation, but you do get to save about £12000.

Hi redbull...

Have you had any experience of Dr Ralph yourself? Have you been implanted?

We are fortunate to have the NHS but in this regard, for me, it’s not an option.

Remember guys, every human on planet can have a bad day. As long as they have a lot more good days, you're golden.

Larry

redbullmaster wrote:Hi,

I'm would say from your first consultation with with a NHS doctor at the UCLH.(from my own experience)
You could be implanted within a year, three years sounds crazy.

As they would have to on the first meeting ask if you used any pde5 inhibitor like Viagra. Talk about your sexual history, see if you want to try a VED, arrange for blood work and look at your overall heath for things like sugar diabetes, state of your heart etc.

They would then if the Viagra wasn't working, look at doing a duplex ultrasound and a Sleep monitoring test (NPT).

If you do need an implant, the NHS will book you for in for surgery.
They will/should also offer counselling before the operation as well.
But you can turn this down and still get the surgery.

All this takes time, but even if you go privite you should be having all this done as well.
But by going private, instead of taking up to 6 months before the operation, you could get it all done much sooner.

This is because a private surgeon is more monetary motivated to get you operated on than the NHS.

You don't get to choose who does your operation, but you do get to save about £12000.

Hey. Thank you for the reply. I am not sure the NHS is as swift as you describe. I have waited 14 months simply to see a Urologist before! I am also quite far from London.. our system would not be the same. If I could get it done within the year, then sure I would very much consider the NHS, but I honestly believe it would be three years - and that is if I am lucky.

Picking the surgeon is one thing, but being a paying customer comes with some benefits. I am very worried about not being fitted properly. The issue would be that on the NHS they would not refit it if i was unhappy as they would say my concern was cosmetic. If I go private I feel I will be able to confirm these details beforehand - like "if I have a floppy head I want to consider this in need of a revision".

Am I being crazy thinking this? I would really love to hear from people that have went through the NHS.

dawnoftime wrote:

redbullmaster wrote:Hi,

I'm would say from your first consultation with with a NHS doctor at the UCLH.(from my own experience)
You could be implanted within a year, three years sounds crazy.

As they would have to on the first meeting ask if you used any pde5 inhibitor like Viagra. Talk about your sexual history, see if you want to try a VED, arrange for blood work and look at your overall heath for things like sugar diabetes, state of your heart etc.

They would then if the Viagra wasn't working, look at doing a duplex ultrasound and a Sleep monitoring test (NPT).

If you do need an implant, the NHS will book you for in for surgery.
They will/should also offer counselling before the operation as well.
But you can turn this down and still get the surgery.

All this takes time, but even if you go privite you should be having all this done as well.
But by going private, instead of taking up to 6 months before the operation, you could get it all done much sooner.

This is because a private surgeon is more monetary motivated to get you operated on than the NHS.

You don't get to choose who does your operation, but you do get to save about £12000.

Hey. Thank you for the reply. I am not sure the NHS is as swift as you describe. I have waited 14 months simply to see a Urologist before! I am also quite far from London.. our system would not be the same. If I could get it done within the year, then sure I would very much consider the NHS, but I honestly believe it would be three years - and that is if I am lucky.

Picking the surgeon is one thing, but being a paying customer comes with some benefits. I am very worried about not being fitted properly. The issue would be that on the NHS they would not refit it if i was unhappy as they would say my concern was cosmetic. If I go private I feel I will be able to confirm these details beforehand - like "if I have a floppy head I want to consider this in need of a revision".

Am I being crazy thinking this? I would really love to hear from people that have went through the NHS.

Okay first off, let me just say for the record we have the single best healthcare system in the world and I’ll stand by that and argue with anyone who disagrees until the cows come home. And whilst NHS implantees may or may not have less say over who does what, when and how, it’s something that they’re even offered implants on the NHS, free of charge, as with all our healthcare.

But as amazing as it is at saving lives, preserving life and looking after the nation, on this, I would definitely recommend going private for an implant, if at all possible. If not, demand the very best surgeon. There are ways and means to get the one you want.

I really can’t see how it would take 3 years to get one. Yes it can take a while to see the consultant and then go through all the tests etc just to get to the implant stage but it should not take that long!

You are right though that if one were to get a floppy head, as you’ve seen with some of our younger fellow members here on FT, if done via the NHS, they would probably take a ‘well that’s good enough’ approach. If done privately though, there would be far more onus on them to do a top notch job, you would have more say over surgeon, it would be quicker and yes, I believe you’d have the right to state beforehand that if incorrectly sized, you would want a revision.

It’s such an important procedure, that really has to be done right. I plan to go through Mr Ralph, privately, as he specialises in implants, he’s is or at least has been the President of the European Uroligical Society, comes recommended by and has worked with Andrew Kramer and he’s one of, if not the highest volume implanter in Europe.