Private health care

[2SkodaFamily]

Before I say what I was going to say, what's people's experience of private healthcare? How does the standard of care compare to NHS?

[lol-lol]

Great in some ways. Get attention quick, staff on hand giving you their time, glad I had it for one of my kids who needed it.

 

Quite expensive ie even the tax on it if the company pays for it you get the tax as a BIK.

Our excess has just doubled so again a double whammy but still glad I have it.

[mac11irl]

Not the same as we dont have an NHS like you guys do.. but we do have access to "public" health care.

But if you want to have any hope of decent cover in hospital private cover is a near necessity here. Waiting list for tests/procedures can be into years... if you can afford it,you pay it

[Sad555]

Better service with private ,nice and polite and can't do enough for you(usually nhs doctors earning a bit of coin in their spare time)but when it all goes t**s up your wheeled back into the NHS to sort it all out,ahead of all the riff raff obviously.

[essexalan]

Well worth the money plus tax. I had carpal tunnel done in both wrists and the service was superb wait time with the NHS was ridiculous.  My GP was somewhat obstructive referring me to a private specialist but you can go to a GP at your local private clinic which will speed up treatment considerably without going through the pill pushing process. If you can afford it get the dental plan as well.

[lol-lol]

Mine costs around 2k so I get wacked for 800 quid extra tax but that covers me and all the kids until 25 years old, unless they get married and then they have to come off the policy. Some pang of guilt of queue jumping but quacks do it in their off hours to supplement their meagre salary #?

[Sad555]

The reason so many of the public have to wait for treatment on the NHS is that their NHS  doctors are doing private work to make even more money so the NHS que gets longer and that in turn adds to further que jumping for private treatment.

[Breezy_Pete]

I turned it down when offered it by my employer. I don't feel important enough to jump queues.

[2SkodaFamily]

When I needed it, my family encouraged me to go private but I never felt the need tbh.

 

My wife's recent operation was done privately and I have to say I really didn't see any noticeable difference between it and the NHS care I received when I had all my treatment in 2015. The nursing care was just as indifferent and as variable as in the NHS. The bins in her room weren't emptied during her four day stay, so by the end stuff was overflowing onto the floor.

 

The surgeon was absolutely excellent, a lovely guy, but then so were the two urologists who did mine on the NHS. I have to admit that when we went into this, I was thinking it might actually convince me to take us all private in future.

 

Now, I honestly couldn't say that there was a great deal of difference and certainly not enough difference for me to fork out extra on top of my NI.

 

I wanted to see the general perception of private care was before offering my opinion. Really, really unimpressed.

 

[lol-lol]

39 minutes ago, 2SkodaFamily said:

When I needed it, my family encouraged me to go private but I never felt the need tbh.

My wife's recent operation was done privately and I have to say I really didn't see any noticeable difference between it and the NHS care I received when I had all my treatment in 2015. The nursing care was just as indifferent and as variable as in the NHS. The bins in her room weren't emptied during her four day stay, so by the end stuff was overflowing onto the floor.

The surgeon was absolutely excellent, a lovely guy, but then so were the two urologists who did mine on the NHS. I have to admit that when we went into this, I was thinking it might actually convince me to take us all private in future.

Now, I honestly couldn't say that there was a great deal of difference and certainly not enough difference for me to fork out extra on top of my NI.

I wanted to see the general perception of private care was before offering my opinion. Really, really unimpressed.

 

 

I think most people;s experience will be similar.  A couple of the extra points, foods in the NHS is often appalling and also wards with a few beds, rather than a single room mean you do not get any sleep with wailing means you fell dreadful with little sleep and horrible food.

 

From the companies view they do not want the employee off for too long so are willing to pay the premium and it is an incentive for recruitment and a factor of comparison when considering companies employment conditions. 

 

[MickA]

2 hours ago, Sad555 said:

The reason so many of the public have to wait for treatment on the NHS is that their NHS  doctors are doing private work to make even more money so the NHS que gets longer and that in turn adds to further que jumping for private treatment.

 

This really for my wife..

 

Some years ago my wife was in that much pain with her wrist she couldn't work, as above as someone mentioned Carpol tunnel op required.

She was quoted could be 6 months, the pain was that bad she couldn't wait that long. Long story short I had medical cover with my employer which covered other family but they deemed this op to be orthapedic (read the small print) just because the surgeon had that on his letter head for quoting purposes for the claim.

 

We then decided to pay for the op ourselves as she was in that much pain, so the surgeon who if with the NHS it could have been 6 months said to us when seen, oh yes I can do that the day after tomorrow if you're up for it.

He at the time was one of the top hand surgeons in the country, did a brillant job and a great bloke too, no complaints from us but just goes to show they'll take your money first (if private or paying) and get to the others later.

Edited 30 July, 2017 by MickA

[camelspyyder]

6 hours ago, Wino said:

I turned it down when offered it by my employer. I don't feel important enough to jump queues.

 

Whereas our resident champion of the proletariat is quite happy to.

[gadgetman]

I had a procedure yesterday on the NHS but in a private hospital to lower the waiting list. 

 

Excellent service, but did feel like cattle wheeled in and out again ready for the next paying punter. 

 

Would happily have cover again (had at a previous company) if offered it by an employer. 

 

 

Downside can be anything deemed pre-existing private insurance won't cover. Some conditions also have a maximum number of treatments/claims similar to motor insurance. 

[mac11irl]

Id do feel a bit bad about the queue skip element but over here the main benefit is continuity of care. Go to the same specialist each time for the same issue, where as public every time you present you meet another jr doc, resident, consultant, and have to re-explain the full history everytime and no proper follow up.

 

My wife was being treated publicly a couple of yrs ago (missed miscarriage) and went through 4 different ob/gyn before they agreed on what was happening.

 

Following this, she was diagnosed with kidney stones which was actually something nothing to do with her kidneys.. the public guy for that decided she needed an xray even though he knew it would show nothing??? Medication nearly killed her as it was totally wrong. 5mins with a private consultant and she was booked for proper private hospital surgery within 15days. 

 

I can afford it, and to do otherwise means hoping one doesnt get seriously sick, as its 50/50 youll be seen before reaching a point of no returns otherwise..

[lol-lol]

2 hours ago, camelspyyder said:

Whereas our resident champion of the proletariat is quite happy to.

 

Personally not happy to have Private Medical at all but at least it means I dob in another few hundred quid in tax to the UK government's cash strapped finances and some nurses also get the chance to get a bit more pay when working for a government/chancellor who says they are currently overpaid. 

[2SkodaFamily]

This is another thing that's bothered me. I am very much a left winger and as a general matter of principle I object to a two tier health system however - 

 

- Is it better, if you can afford to do so, to leave the NHS to those who can't?

- Or is it more likely that as more people shuffle over to private care that the NHS will get even more starved of resources, causing more people to move to private, until the Government inevitably says "There's no public demand for the NHS any more, we're closing it"?

 

I can genuinely see both sides.

[Auric Goldfinger]

Mrs G's new Knee was done at the Nuffield In Harrogate. A private Hospital and was paid for by the NHS. ( About £20K ) The surgeon also works at Harrogate Hospital doing NHS work.

 

I think Mrs G perhaps jumped the waiting list. NHS beds/Theater time might have been full. I wonder how many Operations could be carried out if they were done at Night/Sat/sun or Bank Holidays........

[Breezy_Pete]

1 hour ago, 2SkodaFamily said:

Or is it more likely that as more people shuffle over to private care that the NHS will get even more starved of resources, causing more people to move to private, until the Government inevitably says "There's no public demand for the NHS any more, we're closing it"?

There'll always be a balance between the two, I think. Historically the balance was very much toward the NHS 'cos it's free at point of use, and very high quality. As waiting lists get ever longer the balance will shift toward private arrangements. No government can kill the NHS without killing themselves too, fortunately.

[Boundy123]

I get AXA ppp and simply health through work, never had to claim but I'd rather get back to work ASAP if I hurt myself or develope something, as would my employer, hence why it's a benefit. Only £50 excess and doesn't cost to much in BIK

[firefox2]

1 hour ago, Boundy123 said:

I get AXA ppp and simply health through work, never had to claim but I'd rather get back to work ASAP if I hurt myself or develope something, as would my employer, hence why it's a benefit. Only £50 excess and doesn't cost to much in BIK

 

I have the same plan from my work. I have never had to  use it myself but know of four work colleagues that had various operations. They were all happy with the service and did not have crazy waiting list times . In and out quickly saves employers money in the long run to look after there employee's.

[Squible]

On 30/07/2017 at 11:45, Sad555 said:

The reason so many of the public have to wait for treatment on the NHS is that their NHS  doctors are doing private work to make even more money so the NHS que gets longer and that in turn adds to further que jumping for private treatment.

 

On 30/07/2017 at 13:47, MickA said:

 

This really for my wife..

 

Some years ago my wife was in that much pain with her wrist she couldn't work, as above as someone mentioned Carpol tunnel op required.

She was quoted could be 6 months, the pain was that bad she couldn't wait that long. Long story short I had medical cover with my employer which covered other family but they deemed this op to be orthapedic (read the small print) just because the surgeon had that on his letter head for quoting purposes for the claim.

 

We then decided to pay for the op ourselves as she was in that much pain, so the surgeon who if with the NHS it could have been 6 months said to us when seen, oh yes I can do that the day after tomorrow if you're up for it.

He at the time was one of the top hand surgeons in the country, did a brillant job and a great bloke too, no complaints from us but just goes to show they'll take your money first (if private or paying) and get to the others later.

 

As someone who has spent a lot of time working with doctors and surgeons I feel like you may have a skewed perception of what happens. There are some surgeons who only work part-time with the NHS in order to fit in their private work. However, the majority I have seen work full time for the NHS and then do private work in their additional time. So the surgeons are not really pushing NHS patients behind private patients, there are two separate queues. 

The reason their are huge waiting lists, for orthopaedics in particular is because the NHS is not meeting the demand, there is a shortage of theatre staff and surgeons to be able to treat everyone in a timely manner. There are much fewer patients seeking private treatment, so they are able to be seen quicker. 

 

On the topic of this thread, I think private work may or may not be worth it depending on the speciality. For less lucrative specialities such as paediatrics and A&E, I think the care offered by the NHS will often be superior to private care, that is if you are able to find private provision at all.