Anyone had an MRI scan done at Oakham Veterinary Hospital?

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SCG

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Following a lameness work up and x-rays etc my vet wants my horse to have an MRI scan. He said I could go to Oakham Vet Hospital or Rossdales and I said Oakham as much nearer. I don’t know if my vet is particularly picky or just being very thorough but he said that although they have an MRI scanner at Oakham “it all depends who is reading the scan” as apparently they can be tricky to interpret and he therefore suggested it might be better to go to Rossdales as they are exceptionally experienced in this regard. Problem is I don’t have transport and the cheapest transport quote I’ve had for return journey to Rossdales, inc waiting time while the scan is done, is £240 – whereas a friend can take me to Oakham Vets for nothing!

So not sure what to do as would be far cheaper, quicker and easier to go to Oakham but obviously I want the best for my horse so I wanted to ask if anyone had had an MRI scan at Oakham and your experiences there and were you happy with how the scan result was read etc? If so would be interested to know which vet it was you used (maybe PM me that bit!) I understand MRI scanners are hideously expensive to buy so I can’t believe there would be vets at Oakham that aren’t competent to use it?!
 
My horse had MRI scans done at Oakham in Dec by Ben, who I think runs the unit.
I was very happy with how he read the results, and he explained what the scans showed etc. The report he produced was thorough and clear.
So I had no issues at all, and am happy to recommend them!
 
I think most places will let you request a specific vet if you ask, so if there's a particular vet that is specialised in this kind of thing you might be able to ask for them specifically? I know you can ask for a specific vet to be in charge of your horses case and do scans etc. at my normal practice
 
Ah that's very encouraging fairhill thank you, I thought it must be the case. Yes I thought about asking for a specific vet but I don't know the vets there and who would be the best to ask for MRIs. On their website it says that Ben runs the MRI unit so I guess it would be him
 
I'd get quotes from a few places before deciding wher to go. As it's a referral you can have a say in where it's done. My vets wanted to refer my horse to Oakham for an MRI, I contacted the RVC for a comparison quote which was considerably cheaper (around £300 less) so we went there instead.
 
Yes could do, my vet said the MRI is £1500, l don't know if that was a general figure or specific to Rossdales and Oakham. But in any case my insurance will be paying - so my issue is the cost of hiring transport to get there (I don't have my own) and Oakham is by far the nearest practice with an MRI scanner.
 
SCG said:
Yes could do, my vet said the MRI is £1500, l don't know if that was a general figure or specific to Rossdales and Oakham. But in any case my insurance will be paying - so my issue is the cost of hiring transport to get there (I don't have my own) and Oakham is by far the nearest practice with an MRI scanner.
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Even if insurance is paying it is worth getting a quote as things can rapidly spiral over the insurance limit, some insurance companies will pay towards the transport costs, it is worth checking what they will pay for.
 
Given a friends recent experience with MRI results communication and rossdales I wouldn't be making extra effort to go there.
 
Oh really? Are you able to elaborate? (or PM me). Someone at the yard this morn said oh I would definitely go to Rossdales if you have the option and another said they couldn't fault Oakham. I guess like anything it's dependent on personal experience.
 
I have a stack of x-rays and MRI's in a cupboard, unless the hospital is precious there is nothing wrong with asking for 2 hospitals to put their heads together to look at them. Always useful to keep the originals or copies anyway in case you move and a problem crops up late on, if x-rays or MRI need to be done again in the future (even for a slightly different problem) its good to have a compassion to hand

I also keep blood results etc

Oakham and Rossdales could look at the MRI results together and work together, if I thought someone abroad took a huge interest in a problem and was an expert in that particular issue that is where the results would go too
 
But if say, I went to Oakham to have the scan, if I/the vet wasn't happy with the (interpretation of) the results, do you think Rossdales would be happy to look at them? I'd have thought they would be a bit sniffy if I'd had the scan done elsewhere rather than with them!
 
Oakham were my vets for years and I'd happily go back there for an MRI. If it isn't Ben reading the scan then you can always ask for him to look too. Ditto you can ask for copies (have had all my xrays etc emailed to me) and ask a second opinion from another vets of you aren't happy.
 
Thanks for that, this is all really helpful, I really would prefer to go to Oakham if poss. I hadn't even thought about asking for copies of the scan, that's great and yes sounds like it is quite usual to get a second opinion from another vet.
 
SCG said:
Thanks for that, this is all really helpful, I really would prefer to go to Oakham if poss. I hadn't even thought about asking for copies of the scan, that's great and yes sounds like it is quite usual to get a second opinion from another vet.
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Ben went through the images on screen for me, then took screenshots of the images that best showed the damage. These were printed out on the day for me to take home.
I was then sent a full report in the post a few days later, with more images and a description of what he'd found, and recommendations etc.
 
Really happy with Ben at Oakham, he took time to explain scan results, gave me written report and copies of most pertinent scans. And Oakham's got plenty of coffee shops and a great bookshop to hang around in for a day, unless you're close enough to be able to nip home. We had to be there at 8, and collected pony at about 3 both times.
 
Thank you both, that's great, am really liking the sound of Ben :) I'm lucky to be close enough that I think we would drop my mare off and nip back and collect her later. Thanks for the timescale too, she's going to have both front legs scanned and I think it's an hour per leg plus need to get there a little early and also allow some time after for her to recover a bit from the worst of the sedation before travelling
 
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