The good, the bad and the dismissive... Firstly I want to say that I will always be grateful to Pall Mall Medical for being able to offer surgery in a global pandemic. Working in the NHS myself, I know it’s not easy and my review fully takes that into account. My surgery was a breast explant (taking out my old breast implants) and a mastopexy (breast lift). First impressions were good. I was offered an appointment with a consultant at a time of my choosing and on the day of that first appointment, Mr Prasad was very helpful and confident that he could carry out what I wanted. You then get taken from the consultant’s room to see the co-ordinator who discusses price and schedules a date for surgery with you. My co-ordinator, Jamie Leigh Hazell, was very helpful (especially when my surgery was cancelled the first time due to Covid- not their fault at all and I was rescheduled within a week). The price I felt was very good and it included 2 follow up appointments with the nurse, a 6 week check with Mr Prasad and a telephone helpline if I was worried about anything after surgery. So all in all, the first stages of organising the surgery were good. I had my surgery as a day case and was taken down to theatre very promptly so I wasn’t left hanging around for ages getting more and more nervous. Afterwards, the nurses made sure I had eaten and drunk something before I was discharged home, where I recovered well and was signed off by Mr Prasad at the 6 week check. I am very pleased with the results of my surgery so far and continue to make good progress from a healing point of view. Now for the bad... It is almost impossible to talk to anyone in the Cosmetic Surgery team if you call them. I lost count of the number of times I tried to get through to query things and ask questions. The phone either just rings for 20 minutes unanswered or, you get a Receptionist who says she will pass a message to the cosmetic team to get back to you - guess what? - they never do. Emails also went unanswered and even Jamie Leigh was difficult to get hold of sometimes and seldom returned my texts or emails. This is where I think their service lets them down. By this point I’d paid my balance and was a fully paying private medical customer - I don’t expect that lack of service when I have spent thousands on a procedure. Customer service should be everything to to this company, given the amount of money they are charging. I found that aspect of dealing with Pall Mall the most frustrating. Again, Covid notwithstanding, it’s not difficult to ring a customer back if they’ve left 3 or more messages for someone. And now for the indifferent... My nurse check ups after surgery were very good. They ran to time, were thorough and the nurse I dealt with was very pleasant and reassuring each time I saw her. However, my 6 week check with Mr Prasad was a completely different experience. My appointment was 35-40 minutes late - no big deal, who has ever been seen on time by a doctor or consultant, private or otherwise? But the more frustrating thing was that 3 patients went in ahead of me, all obviously there for an initial consultation with Mr Prasad, then they were marched out of his room and into the room with the coordinator to discuss price etc etc. As I sat there and watched, it really did feel like a conveyor belt of patients - just one after the other after the other and again, no real evidence of personal service. I understand that Pall Mall is predominantly about making money, but the personal touch is definitely lacking here. It almost felt like they’d crammed extra patients in ahead of me to make more money. I am presuming that’s why I was seen 40 minutes late. When it was finally my turn with Mr Prasad, his first words to me were ‘What can I help you with? Ermm, you operated on me 6 weeks ago and I’m here for you to check your work? Not a good start! Once he realised that, he did examine me very briefly but before I could even get my clothes back on, he was back at his desk and saying goodbye! I must have been in the room all of 5 minutes. I made a point of slowing down and asking him questions about whether I was ok to exercise now I’d healed and what I could use to moisturise my scars but by then, he had his back to me and was sitting at his desk when he answered. It was almost like he couldn’t get me out of his room quick enough. I left feeling very disappointed and that I was just another person on the Mr Prasad conveyor belt. It might be a run of the mill surgery to him but my health is very important to me, and a little bit more of a reassuring final appointment would have been nice, given the money I’d spent with Pall Mall! So in short, would I recommend them? Yes I would, but with provisos that you might not get the experience you expect for the money you have paid. I know operating a cosmetic service in a global pandemic isn’t easy so none of what I’ve said is a reflection on that; I think they are working very safely under the current circumstances. But what I would say, particularly if anyone at Pall Mall reads these reviews, is that you need to remember that your customers are not just NHS patients. They are paying you a lot of money to be looked after and your lack of customer service and the personal touch is the thing that might lose you that customer to another private hospital that could provide a much more coherent and reassuring experience, instead of the slightly disappointing and disjointed one I had.