Menu
Expat.com

Any good private GP in London?

Last activity 18 June 2018 by Paullepoulpe

Post new topic

thaoly10

Hi everyone,

I'm posting this thread just to have an idea of where I could get a good GP in London? English is fine but if he or she could speak french it would be even better :)
- Incidentally, any good dentist and osteopath?

Thanks so much for your help.

Cynic

Hi thaoly10 and welcome to the Forum, :)

Little known fact amongst expats; the vast majority of GP's in the UK are private and their practices are private enterprises (who happen to work sometimes for the NHS); Mrs C is a practice nurse for a GP practice up here in Yorkshire; she wears an NHS uniform, ID and joined the NHS pension scheme, but is not paid by the NHS and quite often works with the GP's in private work.

This link may help answer your questions.

Longonot62

Cynic:  I think that it's a little known fact amongst residents too........I have worked for years in health and social care and have yet to come across a private GP.  It's true that practices are run as semi autonomous 'businesses', but they aren't separate from the NHS, which funds the practice and also regulates it.  The GP holds the budget, then buys in services for patients, and so on.  Nursing staff may be paid from the practice budget, but ultimimately are still employed by the NHS.

There are, of course private doctors and clinics in the UK.  Unfortunately, I have never used one, so am unable to recommend.

Dentists and osteopaths are generally private practices.

Cynic

Hi Longonot62.  I work with the NHS (as a contractor); Mrs C is a current Practice nurse; I know (both professionally and socially) a lot of Healthcare professionals across the whole of the UK and N Ireland.

Probably none (I've never met one, I meet a lot), of the GP's have a personal contract with the NHS, they are all either partners (and own the Practice, so are Directors of a private business), or are salaried GP's (employed by the practice), or are graduates finishing off their training and doing the GP element prior to doing either partner, or practice work (or even moving abroad!); none of the nurses or health care assistants have NHS contracts; all of these are officially contractors to the local CCG (via the Practice); they provide healthcare services to the NHS and are paid (basically a fixed fee for every entitled patient on the books) from the NHS budget, plus extra for additional services provided.  That just about sums up the Community Healthcare structure of the UK; not the Acute sector who are pretty much all NHS employees.

The only medical professionals in the building with NHS contracts are the District Nurses,  Midwife's and Social Workers, who have contracts with the CCG (who are a part of the NHS) and do not work for the Practice, but I can understand the confusion as they all look the same (uniforms) and work in adjacent offices to the Practice staff - they work together.

The terms under which Practices work for the CCG are that they must work to the T&C's laid down by them; these T&C's are audited by the CCG (I'm part of that process, I work for a US multinational, not the NHS).  Part of the T&C's are the rights to use NHS organisations (i.e. NHS Supplies) to support the practice, the right for the staff to pay into the NHS pension fund.  Pharmaceuticals (even the expensive stuff), are all procured from outside of the NHS.

Hope this helps. :)

thaoly10

Hi thaoly10, if you are looking for a french GP, dentist and so on , you Will probable have to see a private medic. I am myself a French expat in London and I use to see French doctors here, so I can recommend you some.
For a dentist I always go to Marie Heintz she's wonderful.
For a GP, I recommend Sophie Tournillon.  I don't have any osteopath to give you but you can check on this site: I think you will get what you are looking for on it, they have several French osteopath have a good evening

J.C

thaoly10

Thank you for all your replies. I got an appointment with a french doctor. My friend recommended me the site Findoc to book a medic.
I hope everything will be ok , I will keep you updated :)

Longonot62

Hi Cynic, Thanks for the information.  The current model governing how GP practices operate was 'forced' upon them by the government, was it not.  GP's that I know weren't too happy about it (I am also a health professional). 

My definition of a private practice is one that operates totally independently of the NHS ie. patients pay for consultation/treatment, privately, or through insurance.

Cynic

Longonot62 wrote:

Hi Cynic, Thanks for the information.  The current model governing how GP practices operate was 'forced' upon them by the government, was it not.  GP's that I know weren't too happy about it (I am also a health professional). 

My definition of a private practice is one that operates totally independently of the NHS ie. patients pay for consultation/treatment, privately, or through insurance.


In fairness, the practice of GP's working for the NHS as contractors goes back to the formation of the NHS where the structure of GP services was basically the GP working from his home with a secretary; it was done this way as GP's point-blank refused to integrate and be part of the NHS and the whole NHS creation was in danger of collapsing.

The things that caused significant change to Community healthcare was the transfer of additional services that required practice nurses, nurse practitioners etc; prior to this, the work was done by community health centres run by the local authorities.

As for private practices; many partner GP's only work 3 or 4 days a week for the NHS, the rest of the time they work in private practice; either doing things like cosmetic surgery, insurance companies (work-place medicine) and sport sciences, or working in the acute sector in there individual speciality.  There is now talk of being able to jump the queue for what we would regard as GP services (for a small fee of course).

Longonot62

<<As for private practices; many partner GP's only work 3 or 4 days a week for the NHS>>

Of course this is also very true of hospital based doctors and surgeons too and also in my line of work, being approached to do private work wasn't unusual.

Maybe where you are, GP's do private work, but the GP's that I worked with in my last role, in Kent, had so many NHS patients that there was absolutely no possibility of private work - they didn't have the time.  They might do reports for our service (Kent County Council), or attend meetings, on request and outside their usual role, but we wouldn't pay for these, as the view taken was that this was 'NHS work)!

HannaTESI

Hi, like you,  I'm french and I feel more comfortable with french native doctors. I've been in London for few years now and I've always taken my medical appointments with Le Medicaire Français. This is very convenient coz there is a lot of medical specialties and the location is quiet central (Earl's Court). If you look for a GP, I highly recommend Henri Joubert: [link moderated] . He 's nice and available. However, don't forget that if you go private, you have top doctors but there's price for it! Good luck. MP if you want any further information.

Paullepoulpe

Hi Thaoly,

If you are looking for a good practitioner in Chelsea, I would recommend DR Germain.
She is Canadian, trained in DC.
I use to visit here when she was practicing in Paris where I lived.
She moved to London and I was very happy because I am also more comfortable with the French-speaking dentist (This way I know better if they lies to me lol). Even if I always very afraid of pain, she is very gentle and I feel very confident with her.

N'hésite pas si tu as d'autres questions => MP.

Hope it helps

Articles to help you in your expat project in London

  • Health care in London
    Health care in London

    Expats in London can benefit from health care services in various public and private hospitals as well as clinics.

  • The healthcare system in the United Kingdom
    The healthcare system in the United Kingdom

    Since 1948, the UK has operated a publicly-funded healthcare system, the National Health Service (NHS). This ...

  • Having a baby in the United Kingdom
    Having a baby in the United Kingdom

    Navigating pregnancy and welcoming a new baby is a life-changing event. Parents-to-be naturally seek a sense of ...

  • Emergencies in the UK
    Emergencies in the UK

    Finding yourself in an emergency (e.g., medical emergency, accident, crime, flooding, fire, infectious disease, ...

  • Accommodation in London
    Accommodation in London

    With a surface area of 1,572km² and thirty districts to choose from, London has thousands of homes available ...

  • Top things to do in London
    Top things to do in London

    No matter what your definition of fun is – get ready to feel active, inspired, and creative in London. ...

  • Discovering London
    Discovering London

    London, the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, holds a prestigious position as one of the world's ...

  • London's top universities
    London's top universities

    Studying in London is probably the best decision you will make for your professional and personal development. ...

All of London's guide articles