What the medical board does
It decides whether a case is accepted, which surgeon it goes to, and whether a plan proposed to a patient is clinically sound. Its decisions are not commercially reviewable.
The structural weakness in medical travel is that the commercial function and the clinical function sit in the same place. A company paid per booking, making its own decisions about who is suitable, has an obvious conflict — and the patients harmed by it are the ones who were accepted when they should have been declined.
- Reviews every case before a quote is issued. A patient is never priced before a clinician has seen their photographs, imaging or blood results.
- Allocates cases to surgeons by procedure and volume, not by availability. Afro-textured hair transplants, bariatric revision and implant revision go only to surgeons who perform them regularly.
- Holds authority to decline. A refusal on clinical grounds is final and cannot be overridden by the commercial side of the business.
- Requires investigations before certain quotes: a panoramic X-ray before dental work, blood results before bariatric surgery, a full screen before female hair restoration.
- Sets the stay length for each procedure, which is why they are not negotiable downward.
- Reviews complications and near misses, and changes practice where a pattern emerges.
How a case is reviewed
From enquiry to quote, every case passes through the same steps regardless of what it is worth.
- Intake: your photographs, history and any existing imaging are collected to a specification set by the board, not by a coordinator. Poor photographs produce poor assessments, so we tell you exactly how to take them.
- Screening: the case is checked for the investigations that procedure requires. A dental enquiry without a panoramic X-ray is not assessed until one is supplied; a bariatric enquiry needs recent bloods; a female hair enquiry needs ferritin, thyroid and vitamin D.
- Clinical review: the surgeon or dentist who would perform the treatment reviews the case personally. Their name is recorded and given to you.
- Decision: accept, accept with conditions, defer, or decline. A deferral states what must change and when to come back; a decline states why.
- Plan and quote: where accepted, the clinician specifies the plan — technique, graft count, implant range, number of units — and the quote is built from that rather than from a price list.
- Contingencies: what might change on assessment day, and what the revised cost would be, is written into the quote before you pay anything.
- On arrival: imaging and tests confirm or revise the plan. Where they revise it, you are told before anything proceeds and may decline.
When a second opinion is required
Some cases are reviewed by more than one clinician before a quote is issued, because the risk of getting them wrong is higher than usual.
Automatic second review
- Revision surgery of any kind — bariatric, breast implant, hair transplant, or correction of work done elsewhere.
- BMI above 40 for any procedure under general anaesthetic, or BMI above 35 for body contouring.
- Any patient on anticoagulants, or with a history of blood clot or clotting disorder.
- Combined procedures with a projected operating time over four hours.
- Post-bariatric body contouring, where nutritional status determines whether a very long wound heals.
- Any patient declined by another provider, where we want to understand why before reaching our own view.
- Scarring alopecias, suspected BIA-ALCL, and any finding that might be something other than what the patient came for.
What a second opinion can conclude
- Proceed as planned.
- Proceed with a modified plan — a different technique, a staged approach across two trips, or a smaller procedure.
- Defer pending treatment elsewhere: nutritional correction, smoking cessation, weight stabilisation, dental or dermatological treatment.
- Decline, with the reason given to the patient in writing.
Reviewing complications
Complications are reviewed as a matter of routine rather than only when a patient complains, because the point is to change practice rather than to close a file.
Every surgical service has complications. What distinguishes one from another is whether they are recorded honestly, reviewed properly and acted on — or quietly managed and forgotten. A provider that claims no complications is either very small or not counting.
- Every complication reported during aftercare is recorded, including minor ones and including those resolved remotely.
- Cases are reviewed with the operating surgeon. The question asked is what, if anything, would have changed the outcome.
- Patterns trigger action: a rise in wound problems, a recurring issue with one technique, or repeated complaints about one stage of the journey.
- Changes are made to protocol where the review supports it — stay lengths, pre-operative requirements, which surgeons receive which cases.
- Near misses are reviewed on the same basis as actual complications, which is where most of the useful learning sits.
- Where a complication relates to the surgery, what Valentmedica covers is set out in the aftercare terms of your written quote — agreed before you pay rather than negotiated afterwards.
What you are entitled to
- Your operation note, discharge summary, imaging and histology results, on request.
- A written explanation of what happened and what is being done about it.
- Escalation to a named manager rather than back to the coordinator whose work may be the subject of the complaint.
- The ability to seek your own independent opinion, with your full records provided to support it.
Our surgeons
Medical board: frequently asked questions
The clinical governance function that decides whether a case is accepted, which surgeon it goes to, and whether a proposed plan is sound. Its refusals are final and cannot be overridden by the commercial side of the business.
The surgeon or dentist who would actually treat you, before any quote is issued. Their name is recorded and given to you, along with their Ministry of Health registration number, before you pay a deposit.
Because a quote built on photographs alone is a guess. Decay under a filling, insufficient bone, a hiatus hernia, an iron deficiency — none of these show in a photograph, and all of them change the plan. Requiring the investigation first is what prevents a price changing on arrival.
Regularly. Iron deficiency behind female hair loss, weight not yet stable before body contouring, a BMI too low for a balloon to help, patients unwilling to stop smoking before a breast lift. That is the test of whether clinical governance is real.
You are not charged, you are told why in writing, and we tell you what would need to change or what kind of specialist to see. Several patients have returned a year later having addressed what we raised.
Any revision surgery, high BMI, patients on anticoagulants, combined procedures over four hours, post-bariatric body contouring, anyone declined elsewhere, and any finding that might be something other than what you came for.
Send us what they proposed. We review it independently and will tell you honestly whether we agree. Occasionally we decline cases others have accepted, and we explain our reasoning rather than simply disagreeing.
Yes. Tell your coordinator, without needing to justify it. Allocation is based on procedure and volume, and there is usually more than one appropriate option.
Every reported complication is recorded, reviewed with the operating surgeon, and assessed for what would have changed the outcome. Patterns trigger protocol changes. Near misses are reviewed on the same basis, because that is where most of the learning is.
Yes. Your operation note, discharge summary, imaging and histology results are yours, and we will send them on request — including to support an independent opinion you seek elsewhere.
Clinical concerns go to your coordinator and reach your surgeon the same day. Service complaints go to a named manager rather than back to the coordinator they concern, and are answered in writing. Ask for the escalation contact and you will be given it.
No. It reduces the chance of the avoidable failures — the wrong patient accepted, the wrong procedure chosen, the plan built on insufficient information. Surgical risk remains, and any provider claiming otherwise is overpromising.
