Hi,

If your husband has been referred under the 2 week cancer pathway he would normally be seen as close to the 2 week date as possible. However, Covid is impacting on a few hospitals manning levels & some dermatology clinics are taking longer to see patients, so it could take a few weeks.

Covid saw a lot of the private hospitals give their facilities up for the NHS to use as an overspill so some are still not yet available. Also, a large majority of the consultants that do private practice are also NHS consultants so they may not have the time to do any private work at the moment. Of course, this differs from place to place so until you make enquiries with the private hospitals in your area you won't know. 

If your husband does manage to get a speedy initial private consultation he can then transfer back to the NHS if a biopsy removal is necessary. This can sometimes cause a slight delay so it's better, when making enquiries, to ask the private hospitals what the procedure is and if they can give you an idea as to the waiting time when transferring back to the NHS. If he decides to wait for the initial consultation with the NHS & he needs a biopsy removal, these usually happen about 2 weeks later but again, hospitals vary depending on the impact on staffing due to Covid.

Good luck and please let us know how your husband gets on,

Angie (Stage 3 melanoma patient)