Patient Success Stories

Judy W.

New York, USA

Judy, a 66 year old woman has a valuable insight into the similarities and differences between treatment in a New York hospital and treatment at Ascot Hospital in Auckland: she has had a total hip replacement in both.

Four years ago Judy, while living in New York began having extreme pain in her left hip. After being assessed it became obvious that she required a total hip replacement, which she duly underwent in one of New York’s well known private hospitals.

Last year while living in Auckland Judy experienced a similar pain in her right hip and was subsequently operated on by Mr Garry Heynen at Ascot Hospital.

While now a year on Judy was pleased with both operations she certainly feels her hip replacement from Ascot Hospital is performing better, with a superior range of movement and a much faster recovery time. While she can not put her finger on the exact cause of the difference, the minimally invasive surgical technique employed by Dr Heynen resulting in a much smaller scar, 30% the size of the one from New York, certainly contributed she feels.

All in all the experience was very similar, excellent surgeons and anesthetists and the same length of stay in both hospitals.

However three things were very different. In New York she was asked if she wanted to pay for her own nurse (in addition to the standard hospital staff) to care for her; she elected not to do. “This was a mistake” she said” I often had to wait for up to an hour at night for staff to come and help me to the bathroom”. This was not an issue at Ascot Hospital where all patients receive complete nursing care 24 hours a day commensurate to their condition and requirements as standard.

Secondly her single room in the modern and well appointed hospital suite in Ascot Hospitals was superior to the twin room in a pleasant but much older hospital in New York

However the biggest difference was the price. Her bill for her hip replacement surgery in New York was $98,000. Her bill for her surgery in Ascot Hospital New Zealand for the same procedure 2 years later was around $18,000.

"The same insurance company paid for both" says Judy.  "The second time around they probably thought I had had a tooth extracted for that price".