Fees, insurance and how quickly you’ll be seenAnswered here rather than at the end of a call. Fees and clinic times correct as of September 2026. Insured patients: the practice confirms your cover before you attend.
An initial consultation is £300 to £400. Before you arrive, Mr Scarci reads your existing imaging and letters, so the appointment starts from what is already known rather than from scratch. The consultation itself is a proper hands-on examination of the chest wall, which is where most rib diagnoses are actually made.
You leave with one of three things: a diagnosis and a treatment plan; a specific test that will settle the question, booked and priced; or the reassurance that nothing is wrong and what to do about the pain. If treatment is recommended, a written estimate follows, and you have as long as you like to consider it. Questions that come up afterwards go directly to Mr Scarci.
Follow-up appointments are charged at a lower rate, confirmed when you book. Video consultations are available for follow-up and for patients travelling from outside London.
Most surgical decisions can safely wait a few weeks. Rib fixation is one of the exceptions — the evidence favours operating on multiple broken or displaced ribs early, while the fractures are still mobile and the chest can be stabilised properly. Once the ribs have knitted in the wrong position, the operation becomes bigger, the recovery longer, and the result less predictable.
At the other end of the spectrum are the conditions that get dismissed rather than delayed — slipping rib syndrome, costal cartilage injuries, intercostal neuralgia and chronic post-fracture pain. Patients routinely spend two to six years being told their scans are normal. The cost of that is measured in lost work, abandoned sport and disrupted sleep, and it is rarely put on a spreadsheet.
None of this makes private care the right answer for everyone. The NHS remains available to you and going private does not change your entitlement. But if you are weighing it up, you deserve the numbers plainly, without having to ask twice.
“Chest wall patients are used to being passed around. The least they should get is a straight answer about what treatment costs, before they walk through the door.”
Mr Marco Scarci, Consultant Thoracic Surgeon · MD(Hons) FRCS(Eng) FCCP FACS FEBTSMost people arrive with an X-ray, and most rib problems are invisible on it. The tests that give answers are a thin-slice CT with three-dimensional reconstruction for fractures and non-union, a dynamic ultrasound for cartilage injuries and slipping ribs, MRI for stress fractures, and a diagnostic nerve block for nerve pain.
Imaging is priced by the hospital, not the practice, and varies a little between sites
For insured patients, scans are pre-authorised along with the consultation
These are all-inclusive figures covering the surgeon, the anaesthetist, the theatre, the hospital stay and the first post-operative review. Every patient receives a written estimate for their own case before booking; once your imaging has been reviewed the estimate is a specific figure, not a range.
All-inclusive guide price · varies with the number of ribs fixed
Recognised by all major UK private health insurers
All-inclusive guide price
Recognised by all major UK private health insurers
Highly variable · quoted individually after assessment
Recognised by all major UK private health insurers
Send your scans and get a figure for your own case. If you already have an X-ray, CT or hospital letter, Mr Scarci reviews it and the practice prepares a personalised written estimate before you book anything. There is no charge and no obligation.
Request a written estimateThe usual source of billing anxiety in private healthcare is not the headline price. It is the charge that arrives three weeks later. Here is the whole picture.
No one proceeds to surgery on the strength of a verbal quote.
The practice checks your cover before you attend, obtains pre-authorisation for the treatment plan, and bills your insurer directly. You pay your policy excess and nothing else. Recognised by Bupa, AXA Health, Aviva, Vitality, Cigna, WPA, Healix, Simplyhealth, The Exeter, Freedom Health, Allianz and other UK insurers. International policies (Bupa Global, AXA Global, Allianz, Cigna International, April International and others) are accepted; some require you to claim rather than direct billing, and the team will tell you which.
The same surgeon, the same hospitals, the same care. A written estimate before you commit, fixed-price packages for the common procedures, and itemised invoices in whatever format your employer or accountant needs.
Interest-free payment plans for self-pay treatment through Ideal4Finance, a regulated UK credit broker. Typically 10 to 20% up front and the balance over 12 months at 0%, with terms from 6 to 24 months available. Applying takes about ten minutes online once you have your written estimate, and approval usually comes within a day or two. Subject to credit assessment.
If your rib injury was caused by a road traffic accident, an accident at work or someone else’s negligence, treatment can often be funded through your personal injury claim. The practice provides the reports and invoices your solicitor or case manager needs.
Most insured patients worry about two things: whether their policy covers this particular problem, and how much administration it will involve. The answer to the first is almost always yes. The answer to the second is that the practice does it for you.
Call or book online. Your policy is checked and cover confirmed before your consultation, so you know where you stand before spending anything.
Once a treatment plan is agreed, the practice applies for authorisation on your behalf, including the clinical coding and justification.
After treatment the insurer is invoiced directly. No forms to forward, no reimbursement to chase — you pay only your excess.
The one area worth checking early is a pre-existing condition exclusion — particularly if your rib pain began before your policy started. The practice checks this before your consultation, and many apparent exclusions do not survive contact with the clinical detail.
Book online, by phone or on WhatsApp. No GP referral needed. Send any scans and letters ahead so they can be reviewed before you arrive.
Within a week, sooner for acute injuries. Evening clinics on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The same day where possible, otherwise within days.
Issued after the consultation, with insurance authorisation handled for you.
Within days of a confirmed plan, subject to pre-operative tests and, for insured patients, authorisation. Surgery dates are set around your work and family commitments.
Please say so when you book: multiple fractures are best assessed early, and older patients and anyone on blood thinners should not be waiting.
The same care at every site — choose whichever is easiest for you, and switch between them for follow-up if you like.
8A Wellington Place, St John’s Wood, London NW8 9LE. St John’s Wood (Jubilee) four minutes’ walk; hospital car park; outside the Congestion Charge zone. Full imaging and surgical facilities on site.
11:00am–1:00pm Monday PM20 Devonshire Place, Marylebone, London W1G 6BW. Evening clinic. Regent’s Park (Bakerloo) four minutes; Baker Street ten minutes. NCP Cavendish Square nearby; Congestion Charge zone.
5:30–7:30pm Tuesday PMBeaufort House, Elstree Road, Borehamwood WD6 3BS. Evening clinic; the easiest site for Hertfordshire, Middlesex and north London. Free parking outside the door; Elstree & Borehamwood (Thameslink) nearby.
5:30–7:30pm Wednesday AMRobert & Lisa Sainsbury Wing, Du Cane Road, London W12 0HS. East Acton (Central) ten minutes; pay-and-display parking on site. Mr Scarci’s NHS base, so NHS and private care can be combined here.
9:00–11:00am Thursday AM164–178 Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London SW5 0TU. Gloucester Road (Piccadilly, District, Circle) five minutes; on-site parking; direct Piccadilly line from Heathrow, which suits patients flying in.
9:30am–12:30pmNot in London? Video consultations are available for follow-up appointments and for an initial opinion on existing scans when travelling is difficult.
Send scans and letters to info@marcoscarci.co.uk before your appointment. The practice is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, on 020 7459 4367, and on WhatsApp.
A large share of rib and sternal fractures come from road traffic collisions, cycling accidents, falls at work and assaults. Where liability rests elsewhere, the cost of private treatment is normally recoverable as part of your personal injury claim — and treatment does not have to wait for the case to settle.
Solicitors can usually arrange interim funding or an undertaking so that surgery happens while the fractures are still fixable, rather than years later.
Mr Scarci holds an established medicolegal practice and writes to CPR Part 35 standard, so the clinical record supports the claim properly.
Where he is your treating surgeon, any independent expert evidence is arranged separately to keep the roles clean. The practice will explain how this works.
Ask your solicitor to contact the practice directly on 020 7459 4367 or info@marcoscarci.co.uk, and an estimate for the proposed treatment can be issued for the claim file.
For rib fixation the currency is time: the operation works best in the first days after injury. For chronic chest wall pain the currency is access to someone who examines the chest wall properly rather than repeating scans that keep coming back normal.
Anonymised examples from recent London treatment. Each figure is the total all-in cost including surgeon, hospital, anaesthesia and post-operative review.
Six ribs broken in a road traffic collision, with a flail segment and uncontrolled pain a week after discharge from A&E. Titanium plating of four ribs, three nights in hospital, back to desk work at five weeks. Funded through his solicitor.
Four years of sharp lower rib pain and clicking, three normal CT scans and two previous specialists. Slipping rib syndrome diagnosed at the first consultation and costal cartilage resection performed nine days later as a day case.
Sternal fracture from a seatbelt that had failed to unite after five months, with pain on every movement. Sternal plate fixation, two nights in hospital, driving again at four weeks. Insurer billed directly.
No. You can book directly. If your insurer requires a GP referral to reimburse the consultation, your GP can issue one in parallel; it does not need to delay the appointment.
Usually, subject to your policy’s outpatient limits and excess. The practice checks your cover before the appointment so you know in advance what, if anything, you will pay.
These are medically necessary procedures and are covered by the major UK insurers once the diagnosis is confirmed. The practice obtains pre-authorisation before anything is booked. The main thing to check is a pre-existing-condition exclusion, which the team identifies before you spend anything.
That is a normal consultation. Send the images and reports ahead, Mr Scarci reviews them before you arrive, and you leave with an opinion and a plan. If nothing further is needed, that is the end of the cost.
Usually. X-ray, ultrasound and CT are on site at the hospital clinics and can often be done the same day or within a few days; where a particular scan is not available on the day it is booked at a partner site nearby. Self-pay patients are told the cost before anything is booked; insured patients have it pre-authorised.
Yes. Mr Scarci holds an NHS consultant post at Hammersmith Hospital. Your GP can refer you through the NHS e-Referral Service; waiting times are longer than the private clinic but the care is the same. Seeing him privately does not affect your NHS entitlement, and you can move between the two.
Card, bank transfer or through your insurer. The practice confirms the arrangement when you book.
Always. Nobody proceeds to a scan, an injection or an operation without a written figure first. For self-pay patients the estimate follows the consultation; for insured patients cover is confirmed and authorisation obtained before booking.
Sudden severe breathlessness at rest, coughing up blood, blue lips or fingertips, crushing central chest pain, fainting, or a section of the chest visibly moving the wrong way with breathing: these need an emergency ambulance, not an outpatient appointment.
Pain control, nerve blocks and titanium rib plating
Read more → MechanicalDiagnosed clinically, treated with costal cartilage resection
Read more → UnexplainedRib and chest wall pain that other tests have failed to explain
Read more → For cliniciansSee the referrer page
Read more →Which rib problem do I have?
Most people are seen within the week. Book online in two minutes, or call and Namita will find the clinic and day that suit you.
Pain control, nerve blocks and titanium rib plating
Read more → Slipping ribDiagnosed clinically, treated with costal cartilage resection
Read more → Sternal fracturesSupport, healing and plate fixation for painful nonunion
Read more → BookFive London locations, urgent cases seen same day
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