Hi, i doubt i can help very much... but i do know how you get a private referral. just tell the doc when you see him, you would liked to be referred to a private gyne, you pick the private hospital yourself, and the doc will send them a letter, or fax it, and your off x. i did just that.. i didnt want to wait to see the nhs gyne which would have been a month, and i was fed up being fobbed off by my local doctors.. i do think that every doctor or gyne i see, seems to have there own opinion.. today i was told that i should have been on patches as soon i hit the menapause, and i would be better now, so on that theory there doesnt seem a reason, why you should be taken of your patch.. i used them for a short while and they left an itchy red mark for me to.. it didnt bother me though..