Back Surgery

Because, quite simply 747 if you have been out of the UK for more than 3 months & tell them that you are living in Thailand then they will bill you. Very nearly in every case, if you read the NHS document that I posted.
Once you are receiving a state pension then that is a completely different matter & you are normally entitled to free NHS care..Until 65 (or whatever it will be in the future) then it is a real problem.

I had back surgery back in 1996 for a prolasped disc.a squashed disc,,the doc trimmed it off like it was an overflowing apple pie....also had many a friend have the same thing, one mate who started with one, tried to rest up thinking it would cure, only to have surgery..he rushed back to work, as it is a bummer sitting around for months, as blew two more, only a young guy too, now he cant even lift his kid......all I can say is get the best doctor you can, stuff the money, get the best doctor who knows what he is doing, stuff the money, and take at least one year before you go picking anything up..as I am getting older my spine is moving more because the muscles are not what they use to be..so if you want a good elderly life, get the best and stuff the money....

Absolutely, Get the best doctor regardless of the cost. It is your life and you don't want to live it in pain and not being able to do the things you want. Look on the web about these operations. Many unhappy people talking about botched operations. Actually a lot from the U.K. I would check out Bumrungrad and my doctor there. I know from experience how good he is and he has done over a thousand operations like mine. I really doubt the doctors in Udon would compare.

Many thanks to all for your comments and advice.
And yes i will check out the Bumrungrad as jai yen yen and maaka have suggested.
Thanks

Yes of course Bangkok will have the best doctors ( or so they say) but consider all the other factors, your family is in Udon, your friends are in Udon and unless your wife has family in Bangkok you are alone as it were. Doctors are doctors, there are good and very competent doctors here in Udon , seek and ye shall find. The other option is Kohn Kaen, a University town with a University Medical School, guess where some of the Bangkok Doctors learn ...yes you have got it in Kohn kaen .....so why go to the expense of Bangkok, it is not really needed unless you have a particular problem that is odd and Bangkok being the so-called hub of medical expertise ( which I doubt by the way )would be the place to go.
back operations are now the norm depending on your situation and your problem, one can of course pay through the nose and hope you get it right, money is no guarantee of excellence and Bangkok is a long way to go for a post -op check up which they have to do following a back-op .
I always say speak to the Doctor any operation requires a degree of faith in your surgeon and the hospital, here in Udon we are reasonably lucky that half of Issan and half of Vientiane comes here for medical reasons so we have a good throughput of patients with a myriad of problems and the majority of Doctors are more than competent. We as foreigners speak to our Doctors that tend to trust one who then guides them to the right one, good or bad. because we speak and ask the questions Doctors know that we do and are more cautious, also we tend to know more about ourselves than Thais do.
You can go to Bangkok, yes it is your back and yes you only have one of them, but unless you are having a mulitple disc removal or even a fusion of more than one vertebrae, here would be ok for the operation. But whatever you do seek further tests, at AEK or even Wattana it is the same bloody surgeon in any event.

Well,although I agree that having loved ones close is of great importance,if I was to have a serious operation that could effect the rest of my life,the level of confidence in the team performing the operation would hold the most importance.

If you decide to have the operation here.personal recommendations regarding the doctor is most important.If they are to difficult to come by,then my recommendation would be Bumrungrad because they handle the most foreign patients,therefore they are in the position to effected by negative publicity if they don't perform at a high standard!
It behooves them to have the highest quality physicians!

As a nurse,I have worked with 100's and 100's of doctors that I would not feel confident about if I was the patient.So search and search for ''personal experience'' recs,lacking that,make your decision based on the most logical assumption possible.

Bedside manner and personality are not criteria for judging the competence of a surgeon!!The more experience they have at performing the procedure,the better your chances!

Good Luck!

I was told that my first copy of the NHS document was a little on the small print side, so I have attempted a better copy here.

TicToc wrote:Many thanks to all for your comments and advice.
And yes i will check out the Bumrungrad as jai yen yen and maaka have suggested.
Thanks

If you go to Bumrungrad ask to see Dr. Sarapong. He is very good and honest. If he is not the best man for your operation he will recommend someone who is.

Therefore reading between the lines, If you are currently living in here, but you go back and live there and register then as a pensioner you will be entitled to free treatment as I said, once back and registered your OK
The trick is to go back and register before you need a life saving op...that's the sticking point.

Khun Paul wrote:Therefore reading between the lines, If you are currently living in here, but you go back and live there and register then as a pensioner you will be entitled to free treatment as I said, once back and registered your OK
The trick is to go back and register before you need a life saving op...that's the sticking point.

I think that is a good general summary of it Paul.
I don't think that you actually need to be registered, just able to convince them that you are back 'permanently'. Even if circumstances change after the treatment...

Ah Bob my info is that when returning you must register, and that instead of as before a Dr can refuse, a Doctor must accept you if not one will be found for you in order to register.
registration is in fact a formality, it ensures that not only will your treatment be paid for but that it can be entered on your NHS Docs and someone will be tasked to follow up.
Bloody Bureaucratic BS