Dr Patrick Dessein Contact Details

Professor Patrick Dessein is a rheumatologist practising at Netcare Rosebank Hospital in Johannesburg. Netcare confirms the association, and in October 2024 published a release congratulating him on ScholarGPS Top Scholar status, recognising a lifetime contribution to global research. What Netcare does not publish is a direct number for his rooms.

Official contact channels

Since no rooms number is published, the practical route is the hospital number and asking to be put through to the rheumatology rooms, or the Netcare appointment service. Be aware what that service is and is not: Netcare describes it as a free service that matches patients with specialists, general practitioners and dentists across its hospitals, Medicross centres and Akeso facilities, and it books appointments with practitioners contracted to your medical aid. That last qualifier matters. If a particular practitioner is not contracted to your scheme, the service may offer you somebody else rather than the person you asked for, so name the practitioner and confirm you are being booked with them.

The hospital mailbox above is a pre admissions and customer care address rather than a clinical one, so it is the right route for admission paperwork and the wrong route for a clinical question.

What this organisation provides

Netcare Rosebank Hospital publishes comprehensive diagnostic and interventional radiology and an in-hospital retail pharmacy that dispenses to the public as well as serving inpatients. It notes that it is close to Rosebank Mall and the Gautrain station and runs a shuttle service to and from the mall during the day, which is worth knowing if you are attending without a car.

Address and operating information

14 Sturdee Avenue in Rosebank. Note that the Netcare group head office is a different address entirely, 76 Maude Street on the corner of West Street in Sandton on +27 11 301 0000, and that number is for corporate matters rather than for a patient enquiry or an appointment.

Support and escalation routes

Rheumatology is worth understanding before you call, because the funding position is unusually favourable and people often do not claim what they are entitled to. Rheumatoid arthritis is on the Chronic Disease List, which makes it a Prescribed Minimum Benefit that a medical scheme must cover, including the diagnosis, ongoing treatment and medication, subject to scheme protocols and designated providers. Register the condition on the scheme chronic programme rather than paying consultations from day to day benefits.

The expensive part is biologic therapy. Biologic disease modifying drugs generally require a specific motivation from the specialist and prior authorisation, and a scheme will usually want evidence that conventional treatment has been tried first. Start that application early, keep the motivation letter, and ask the rooms what supporting results the scheme will need, because an incomplete application is the common cause of a months long delay.

For a complaint about clinical care or professional conduct, the Health Professions Council of South Africa registers rheumatologists and handles conduct matters. For the hospital as a facility, the Office of Health Standards Compliance inspects health establishments, with the Health Ombud for serious matters. A dispute about what a scheme paid or refused, including a declined biologic authorisation, goes to the scheme first and then to the Council for Medical Schemes.

Sources

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