Patient information

Mr. Marais is registered with all major insurance companies, including BUPA, AXA-PPP, Aviva, Cigna, Simply-Health, WPA, Beneden, Vitality, Alliance and a number of others. His fees are generally within the limits set by these companies to avoid, wherever possible, excess payments by the patient.

Invoices will be sent directly to the patient for settlement, whose responsibility it is to do so, if insurance does not cover the fees.

If an excess exists on your particular policy, you will need to settle this yourself. Payment is required within 30 days. Cheques should be made payable to Vision-ENT, rather than Mr. J. Marais. Please post to:

Churchill Hospital, Sudbury Hill,

Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3RX

Please note, for both categories, any necessary procedures are charged in addition to the below.

Foreign patients, expatriates and visiting tourists will be asked to pay in cash at the end of the consultation. A receipt will be posted. Credit card payments can be accepted.

If admission and surgery is required, my secretary, Fiona, will be able to give you an estimate of the total cost involved. This will involve finding out how much the hospital fees, anaesthetic fees, etc, are, in addition to Mr. Marais’ own fee. Please note that this is only an estimate, as we have no control of the other fees involved.

Wherever possible, costs will be kept to an absolute minimum for self-funded patients.

Mr. Marais charges within agreed insurance company rates, for both initial and follow-up consultations as well as procedures.

Charges for self funding patients are discounted from those of insured patients. The cost of a new patient consultation is £250 and a follow-up visit is £180.

All bookings are made via my secretary, Fiona Robinson, on 07718 233 033 or at medi_sec@btinternet.com.

Fiona will complete an Admission Booking Form to reserve a room and place you on the operating list. She keeps the operative diary, and will be able to tell you on what days surgery is available.

Please note that patients under the age of 16yrs cannot be admitted to Clementine Churchill Hospital and arrangements will need to be made for admission to the children’s ward at Northwick Park Hospital or Bishops Wood Hospital.

Any booked appointment not cancelled within 12 hours of the appointment time will be charged for at the normal rate.

NHS regulations require that patients are referred to the NHS hospital by their GP. Even if you had seen a consultant privately, you cannot be admitted directly to the waiting list or have specialist investigations on the NHS without an outpatient appointment, which must be requested by your GP. Unfortunately, in most cases, this involves waiting for your appointment which may take two to three months or more. This is to avoid “queue jumping” and the NHS are very strict about this.

Mr Marais is not responsible for and has no control over the charges levied by private hospitals for the use of their facilities and equipment. These will be invoiced to the patient directly by the hospital concerned. Generally, the charges are clearly displayed in the hospitals concerned. Any queries arising from the cost of hospital blood tests, scans or use of equipment should be directed to the hospital concerned.

I can be contacted via e-mail on this website. Simple queries and comments/suggestions will be dealt with as soon as possible, but this is not an online emergency service and lengthy consultative replies are not possible, due to time pressure. Most queries can be dealt with by my secretary, Fiona Robinson on  07718 233 033.