
I saw Dr Ng from August of 2024 until September of 202 and so I got to know him over a long period of time.
The first thing I would say is to please look around to find a consultant who will offer similar treatment to Mr Ng. I say this because Mr Ng’s fees are very high and he will not give you the tools to become medically independent. I believe Mr Ng’s approach to fees and treatment is unethical, (I will go into this later). Importantly I have now found a doctor who has given me the medical tools to treat myself in the same way Mr Ng has but for a fraction of the cost. I implore you please to not become medically and financially independent on someone who I do not believe has the patient’s best interests at heart.
The treatment Mr Ng offered me:
A bladder hydrodistention
Followed by a twice-weekly bladder instillations with PTNS
The instillations contained Ialuril, lidocaine, and sodium bicarbonate
Weekly / bi-weekly urine tests to check for bacteria
Costs of Mr Ng’s treatment:
His fees are expensive: £520 for each instillation, and £275 for up to 20 minutes on a call, charged pro-rata afterwards. The hydrodistention and initial course of 12 instillations alone came to around £15,000–16,000.
Why I believe Mr Ng’s approach to fees is unethical, and how to find the same treatment for less money as a patient:
I often felt like Mr Ng cared far more about getting paid and my money, rather than my wellbeing and progress as a patient. Clear examples of this are his:
approach to urine tests, and
refusal to teach patients how to replicate his bladder instillations.
Urine tests: Mr Ng will do a urine test with you regularly to check for any bacteria / infections. He will send the results of those tests for free to you. However, he will not tell you what the results mean / what needs to be done medically without payment of £275 for a consultation. This feels incredibly unethical. Let’s say you had an infection and required antibiotics, unless you are going to see Mr Ng again he won’t provide a prescription. Instead he will tell you to go and see your GP. This is withholding essential medical guidance and clearly crosses a line. When I challenged him on this his justification was that it was the same as paying a lawyer for their time. I disagree strongly with this. No major work is required of Mr Ng, he will already know the answer as to what antibiotic you need, and writing a prescription is what is expected of doctors.
Refusal to teach patients how to replicate his bladder instillations: There were also opportunities to reduce costs for patients. He could do this by teaching patients how to self-catheterise and inject the medication of ialuril, sodium bicarbonate and lidocaine ourselves. When I asked if this would be possible he said he would not want to because:
Patients might hurt themselves through catheterisation and
That he wants to keep an eye medically on his patients rather than having them disappear off and do the treatment entirely themselves
The first point I disagree with. Thousands of people self-catheterise everyday without any major issue. Regarding the second point, he could still require patients to check in with him semi-regularly, however his flat out refusal to let patients replicate any part of the treatment themselves feels unethical. It is difficult not to feel that the real reason was financial, that keeping patients dependent on in-clinic treatment was more lucrative. Furthermore, Mr Ng frequently leaves for weeks at a time on medical conferences, and for Chinese New Year alone he was gone for over 3 weeks. I am therefore not convinced that he is worried about leaving patients unmonitored for periods of time.
If you take anything away from this:
It is that Mr Ng’s treatment can be done by other consultants. I am now seeing a new urologist who has prescribed me iAluril, Lidocaine and Sodium. I can now treat myself whenever I want, and have far more autonomy as a patient. This urologist also does not try to charge me for every single thing he does, or any quick admin / questions that are reasonable to ask. I feel far more cared for and frankly no longer financially exploited.
Mr Ng’s professional behaviour:
I realise this review is already long. This next part details Mr Ng’s behaviour as a consultant and I have only placed it here if people are still interested in reading more about what you can expect from Mr Ng as a doctor.
His attitude towards money: I really came to dislike Mr Ng’s comments towards people’s finances in regards to his treatment. For example, when first discussing costs, he joked about patients making big financial sacrifices, i.e. giving up their deposits, or talking unempathetically about how people sometimes run out of money and he has to ‘send them back to the NHS.’ These remarks struck me as unprofessional and insensitive, given how expensive his treatment was, and how desperate and mentally struggling a lot of interstitial cystitis patients are due to the chronic nature of their problem.
Inconsistent time spent with patients: When I would have instillations with Mr Ng, the amount of time he would spend with me was inconsistent. The instillations took around 30 minutes (with the PTNS) and sometimes he stayed and spoke with me for most of that time. Other times he clearly wanted to be out of the room as fast as possible and would leave after 5-10 minutes. Despite this he would always charge the full £520. I do not think this was fair.
Punctuality: Appointments rarely started on time. Even with a 10:00am slot, he often only arrived at the clinic after 10:00am. I once suggested booking me at 10:10am instead, but nothing changed. There were also scheduling errors, on at least two occasions, he confirmed dates, only to later cancel and tell me I had the wrong information. I did not challenge him on this as I suspected he would deny it and suggest I misheard, but it was disruptive to my work. Despite insisting patients needed constant monitoring, he frequently went away for weeks at a time, whether for conferences or personal holiday.
Inability to have frank and open discussions: Mr Ng told me that he liked to be ‘challenged’ by patients however I did not find this to be the case. After I felt like my progress was stalling I said to him that our treatment felt like 'Groundhog Day', we were doing the same thing again and again with no real advancement. Rather than engaging with this concern, he seemed offended and told me I was welcome to find another consultant. I came to feel he had a strong ego, and he would become unprofessional when questioned more firmly.
Unprofessional behaviour: The most unprofessional encounter came at the end of my treatment. I wanted to know whether the photos of my bladder taken from a cystoscopy were taken before or after the hydrodistention. Another urologist I was seeing for a second opinion wanted to know this, which is why I asked. I thought this would be a simple yes/no question and so I politely texted Mr. Ng, but he refused to answer and said I would need to book a £275 consultation.
When I paid for an in-person consultation, he gave vague answers. He said he recorded the 'entire procedure’. I was still confused and asked further. At this point he became visibly irritated, insisted that he answer was 'very simple' and that he had explained it in 'clear English,' and implied I was at fault for not understanding. He then said I asked far more questions than other patients, which he found 'tiring.' I said I thought he was being very rude, and again he said I could find another urologist. He cut the conversation short and walked out mid-discussion.
After a year of loyalty and considerable expense, being treated this way over a simple question left me stunned and confirmed that he viewed me more as a source of revenue than as a patient. It is due to this final behaviour that I have given Mr Ng such a poor rating.
Seen for:
Interstitial Cystitis