Question about rights to access treatment

Hey everyone,

Discovered this week that my uncle has having some really serious health symptoms that point in a very troubling direction. He and his son are pushing the GP to action investigations but they are just stalling. Mean while my uncle and his mental/physical health is deteriorating, and my cousin is at the end of his rope.

Neither can afford it, but we’re going to club together and considering paying for a private ultrasound in order to get my uncle checked out ASAP because if there is something serious going on the time is precious…

He’s investigated the most local private ultrasound facilities and found one literally on their doorstep. He’s called up to see what’s what and arrange an appointment however…

  1. He’s told that under no circumstances can he attend the appointment with my uncle, despite being his full time registered carer, and my uncle having cognitive deterioration meaning he’d never be able to relay information back and forth correctly.

  2. The clinic only runs on two days a week, one of the days access to the lift isn’t available and of course the equipment is upstairs. The other day the clinic runs is a weekday and the clinics in the middle of a doctors surgery, so the risks of catching something could be quite high and my uncle is high risk. So they would prefer to go at the weekend when there’s (hopefully) less people about. My uncle suffers with claustrophobia too, so going in a lift is not something he can do easily, hence why they’re going for ultrasound rather than MRI/CT.

My cousin is losing his mind thinking his dad is on his way out, and he’s tired of fighting this already having been battling with the GP to take notice for weeks now. So I said I’d step in and see if I can talk to this private clinic myself and make some progress.

Before doing that I wanted to see if anyone could tell me what his/my uncles rights might be in regard to getting this private scan.

Is there any legal angle to go at with the right to access the services with a carer present?

Is there also any angle to go at them which could make it so they’d potentially make adjustments to see my uncle in a ground floor room?

I know it’s a long shot, and there’s probably not use in asking for special treatment, especially now, but my cousin is cracking up over this and I’d like to try and make his life a bit easier if I can. They’ve both been isolating since early March, haven’t been near anyone in all that time and it’s unbelievable that this is happening to them now, but they cannot possibly be carrying COVID and couldn’t be a threat to anyone, but everyone is unfortunately a threat to them.

Any help/advice would be a big help, thanks all! Stay well!

This is a case of balancing risk.
Doctors surgeries are very different places now.
The door is locked and you have to be let in.
What do you think is wrong with the patient?
If the patient lacks mental capacity who is managing his money? His own money should be used to pay for any diagnostic test.