Please read the following terms and conditions carefully before attending your consultation.
By scheduling an appointment, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. If you do not agree to any part of these terms, please contact us to discuss your concerns immediately.
These Terms and Conditions apply to all services provided by LDN Medical Specialists Ltd, a limited company registered in England and Wales under company number 15034820, trading as Dr Ricardo Jose – London Chest Specialist. By booking, attending, or otherwise receiving any consultation or service, you acknowledge and agree that these Terms and Conditions apply to the initial consultation, all follow-up consultations, and any subsequent consultations or professional services provided in connection with your care, in person or remotely via video or telephone.
For the avoidance of doubt, these Terms apply to all clinical services provided by LDN Medical Specialists Ltd, including but not limited to medical consultations, review of investigations, clinical advice, treatment recommendations, prescriptions, medical reports, letters, and any other services provided as part of your medical assessment, treatment, or follow-up care.
These Terms and Conditions shall continue to apply throughout the duration of your care with LDN Medical Specialists Ltd and to any subsequent services provided unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing.
Fees
Consultation fees
a. Initial Outpatient or Remote Consultation: The fee for an initial consultation of up to 30 minutes duration will not exceed £250.00.
b. Follow-up Outpatient or Remote Consultation: The fee for a follow-up consultation of up to 15 minutes duration will not exceed £200.00 unless outside of regualr scheduled clinic times.
c. Inpatient consultations: The fee for an initial or follow-up inpatient consultation is the same as for outpatient consultations during weekdays from 9:00 to 19:00. Initial inpatient consultations outside these hours or on weekends will incur an additional charge of £100.
d. Inpatient care: The fee for daily inpatient care will not exceed £200 per day.
e. Home visits: The fee for consultations in your home will vary depending on location and time of the day. You will be told of the fee at the time of your booking.
f. Ad hoc consultations scheduled outside our regular clinic times (“Out-of-Hours Consultations”) may incur an additional charge of £100.
g. If your first consultation is conducted remotely while you are physically outside the United Kingdom, an additional £100 fee will apply, irrespective of your country of residence or billing address.
Prescription fees
Prescriptions issued during a consultation will not incur any charges. However, for prescriptions issued outside of a consultation, such as requests for repeat prescriptions, charges will be applied as follows: £50 per prescription for up to 5 items, and an additional £5 per item for prescriptions exceeding 5 items. In this context, a ‘prescription’ is defined as an instruction written by a medical practitioner, authorising the provision of medicine or treatment to a patient.
Other fees
Following your consultation, you may need certain tests (e.g., blood tests, lung function tests, or imaging such as X-ray, MRI, or CT scan) to help diagnose or monitor your condition. If the test is undertaken by the clinic or hospital (i.e., Dr Jose has requested the test but not performed the test himself), the fees for those tests will be determined by the clinic or hospital and charged to you, or your private medical insurer, separately by the hospital or clinic. For prices of these investigations, please contact the clinic or hospital directly. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are aware of the fees before agreeing to have the tests. If you are insured, please ensure that you seek authorisation for tests as required by your policy. By agreeing to have tests or investigations performed, you acknowledge and accept responsibility for any costs incurred.
Private Medical Insurance
If you have private medical insurance, please contact your insurer before your consultation, to check the terms of your policy, particularly the level and type of cover you have, including any reimbursement limits on individual consultation fees. I am recognised by most private medical insurance companies, including Aetna, BUPA, Cigna, Allianz, AVIVA, AXA, Healix, Vitality, and WPA. It is your responsibility to obtain necessary authorisations from your insurance company ahead of your scheduled consultation. Any fees incurred as a result of insufficient or no authorisation from the insurance company will be your responsibility.
Liability for Payment
a. Self-funding Patients: If you are a self-funding patient, you are required to make payment within 24 hours of making your booking. If your appointment is scheduled within 24 hours of the booking, payment must be made within 6 hours of the booking or before your appointment, whichever comes first. If you are unable to make payment online, over the phone, or via bank transfer within these timeframes, you must contact the practice to discuss and agree upon alternative arrangements, and must sign the electronic acceptance of the terms and conditions. If payment is not received within the specified timeframe and no prior arrangements have been made (with submission of a signed terms and conditions form), your appointment will be subject to cancellation unless you contact us to provide a valid reason for the delay.
If there is a valid reason for not paying ahead of the consultation and the terms and conditions form is signed, you can pay at the consultation.
Please note that all other invoices must be settled within 30 days from the invoice date. Should any portion of the invoice remain unpaid after this 30-day period, Dr Ricardo Jose, LDN Medical Specialists Ltd, or the clinic, at its discretion, may apply an interest charge of 4% per annum above the Bank of England base rate. Following a final demand, any outstanding balances will be referred to a debt collection agency or small claims court for recovery as deemed appropriate. This could include an application of additional collection charges and fees.
b. Sponsored Patients: Dr Ricardo Jose, LDN Medical Specialists Ltd and the clinics accept direct settlement arrangements only with third parties with whom we have an agreement. If such an agreement is not in place, you will be asked to settle the account ahead of your consultation and seek to recover the sum from the sponsor. Where an agreement is in place, we must have a letter of guarantee specific to this consultation and / or treatment.
c.) Insured patients: It is your responsibility to secure the necessary authorisations from your insurance company prior to your scheduled consultation or investigations. Should any fees be incurred due to a lack of, or insufficient, authorisation from the insurance company, these will fall under your responsibility and must be settled within 30 days from the date the invoice is issued. If any part of the invoice remains unpaid after this 30-day period, Dr Ricardo Jose, LDN Medical Specialists Ltd, or the clinic, may at its discretion, apply an interest charge of 4% per annum above the Bank of England base rate. Following a final demand, any remaining unpaid balances will be referred to a debt collection agent or small claims court for recovery as they deem appropriate, which could include the application of additional collection charges and fees.
You must sign the electronic acceptance of the terms and conditions within 24 hours of booking. If we do not receive signed electronic acceptance of the terms and conditions, your appointment will be subject to cancellation unless you contact us to provide a valid reason for the delay.
Cancellation and Rescheduling Policy
You must provide at least 24 hours’ notice for cancellations or rescheduling of appointments. Failure to provide such notice will result in you being charged the full fee for the missed appointment. For appointments on a Monday, the notification must be received before 1 PM on the preceding Friday. Please note that insurers or sponsors will not cover a cancellation fee so you would be invoiced directly and invoices must be paid within 30 days of being issued. This policy ensures that appointment slots can be allocated to other patients who require consultations.
Refund Policy
If you are eligible for a refund as per the terms and conditions, you will be refunded the total purchase price paid, minus any processing charges incurred during the original transaction. Please note that any fees or charges incurred to facilitate the original transaction will be deducted from the refund amount. You can expect the refund to be processed within fourteen business days following our receipt of a valid refund request. The funds will be returned to you using the same payment method originally used, unless an alternative method is agreed upon.
Video and Telephone Consultations (remote consultations)
For remote consultations conducted via video or telephone, acceptance of these terms and conditions constitutes acceptance of the Remote Consultation Terms and Conditions available at:
https://londonchestspecialist.co.uk/remote-consultation-terms-and-conditions/
If you receive a separate digital form requesting that you sign a consent form confirming that you agree to the remote consultation terms and conditions, this must be completed within 24 hours of receipt and prior to your consultation. The consent form will be sent to you by email, and the consultation will proceed only once the completed and signed form has been received and the applicable consultation fee has been paid, unless you are insured and the appropriate authorisation has been obtained.
For patients insured with Bupa, signing the remote consultation consent form is a mandatory requirement. If the required form is not signed and returned prior to the consultation, the appointment will not proceed and will need to be rescheduled.
Follow-up Consultations
You are requested to book follow-up consultations to discuss the results of any tests or investigations carried out and treatment plans. Furthermore, it is your responsibility to ensure that this consultation is booked after your tests are carried out. This ensures proper evaluation, diagnosis, and management of your medical concerns. Dr Ricardo Jose and LDN Medical Specialists Ltd accept no liability for any consequences, including delay in diagnosis or treatment, if a follow-up consultation is not booked or attended as advised. In particular, if you do not arrange a follow-up to review investigation results or to assess your condition at the recommended interval, responsibility for this rests with you and not with Dr Ricardo Jose or LDN Medical Specialists Ltd.
Recording and Transcription
To ensure preparation of a summary letter of your consultation, your consultation may be audio recorded and transcribed. The recording is made, securely stored and transcribed within the Carebit patient management system in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Recordings are used only to support your medical record and are not shared unless required by law. By continuing with the consultation, you consent to this recording unless you inform the doctor at the start that you do not wish it to be recorded.
Privacy and Confidentiality
Dr Ricardo Jose, LDN Medical Specialists Ltd, is committed to protecting your privacy and confidentiality. We comply with all relevant privacy laws and regulations, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). Please refer to our Privacy Policy <https://londonchestspecialist.co.uk/privacy/> for more information on how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information. Your information will be shared with the hospital where your consultation is booked to allow your registration with the hospital or clinic.
Sharing of Clinical Correspondence with Your NHS General Practitioner
Unless you expressly direct otherwise, it is our standard practice to share clinical correspondence relevant to your care with your National Health Service (NHS) General Practitioner (GP). This sharing of information is based on the availability of your NHS GP’s contact details to me, hospital, or clinic responsible for your care at the time the correspondence is generated.
Automatic Sharing: If your NHS GP details are known to us, the clinic, or hospital, we will, in the absence of explicit instructions from you to the contrary, share clinical correspondence with your NHS GP to ensure a coordinated approach to your healthcare.
Responsibility to Provide GP Details: In circumstances where we do not have your NHS GP’s contact details and you wish for your clinical correspondence to be shared with your GP, you are required to provide these details either before or at the time of your consultation. Failure to do so may impede my ability to share important clinical information with your NHS GP. You may also share the correspondence sent to you directly with your GP.
Your Directive: You retain the right to instruct us not to share clinical correspondence with your NHS GP. Such directives must be explicitly communicated to me in writing. Once received, we will comply with your wishes and refrain from sharing clinical correspondence, unless required by law or in circumstances where there is an overriding public or patient safety interest.
Limitation of Liability
Dr Ricardo Jose and LDN Medical Specialists Ltd are committed to providing the highest standard of care in accordance with the guidelines set by the General Medical Council. While our team strives to deliver the best possible outcomes, we cannot guarantee specific results or outcomes for each individual patient due to the inherent variability and complexity of medical conditions and treatments. If you have concerns about the care provided, please contact us immediately to discuss the matter, and we will work to address your concerns. Each hospital or clinic where the practice carries out its services has its own complaints policy and procedure that will be followed.
All services are provided by LDN Medical Specialists Ltd. To the fullest extent permitted by law, any liability arising in connection with the provision of services shall attach to LDN Medical Specialists Ltd.
Financial Interests
LDN Medical Specialists Ltd and Dr Ricardo Jose are legally obliged to inform you that they don’t have any financial interests in The London Clinic or Royal Brompton Hospital and 77 Wimpole Street, or in the equipment used at these facilities.
Quality Information
You can compare independent information about the quality of private treatment offered by hospital and other private healthcare providers from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) website: www.phin.org.uk.
Governing Law
These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes relating to these terms and conditions or the provision of services will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Amendments
LDN Medical Specialists Ltd reserve the right to amend these terms and conditions at any time without prior notice. Any changes will be posted on the website and will be effective immediately. Your continued use of our services following any changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised terms and conditions.
Please contact email info@londonchestspecialist.co.uk or call +442039185746 if you have any questions or concerns regarding these terms and conditions.
We look forward to welcoming you to the practice of Dr Ricardo Jose
Yours sincerely,
The Practice Management of Dr Ricardo Jose, LDN Medical Specialists LTD