Paying for private healthcare

[duke63]

How many on here have private healthcare of some sort?

I have had an ongoing problem for a couple of years now. One of my GP's says there is nothing wrong with me and i have to learn to live with the pain, the other says he doesn't know what is wrong with me.

Recently saw an advert for the Nuffield offering a local GP session at their hospital for a full 30 minutes for £95. So i booked in, when i wanted to see the GP.

Got a full examination of the problem, (including what might be termed a 'well-man examination' ) and was then offered three different solutions.

Took the option to see a private consultant.

This is what the NHS should be like. Made me realise just how poor the general healthcare is that the NHS offers and seriously looking into some proper private healthcare now rather than the basic back up we have now.

[Kwacky]

I think it's a bit disingenuous to slag the NHS off all the time. It's got limited resources with every increasing demands. People expect a lot more these days and sue if they don't get what they want or if something goes wrong. It's rife with overpaid managers trying to number crunch. As a result the people on the ground are overworked. If every GP offered every patient 30 minutes for every consultation the waiting lists would be months not days.

The NHS has to cater for everyone, despite the fact only 50% of the population works and therefore contributes towards the costs. That includes those who pay for private health care.

Yes I agree, private health care is fantastic. I had to rely on it after my crash. But you're paying for that level of service.

[D6Nutz]

I had it when I used to work permanently, fecking waste of money (BiK tax) and time..

I've got cartilage damage in my right hip that flairs up from time to time giving me a lot of pain. I finally went to the doc a few years back and got referred on to a private consultant (paid for by the NHS). The only option is to have an operation that will lay me up for 2 weeks.

As I had the health insurance I decided to use it and go private. Well 6 months later and a lot of arguments I cancelled the policy. They had requested a letter from the doctor detailing the condition, treatment, and possible cause. The doctor wrote back perfectly detailing that a possible cause may have been an impact trauma from a motorcycle accident some years before. They took that as all the excuse they needed to call the "prior injury" card and refused to fund the treatment. Stupid thing was if I had stayed with the NHS I would have probably had the operation during that time.

Moral of the story, just because you pay for it doesn't mean it's any better.

[duke63]

Wasn't a dig at the NHS as whole rather an observation as to what it should be aiming towards. Very frustrated that my GP could not have offered the same options, makes you wonder if they are told only to offer to see some consultants as a very last resort.

Its inevitable that it has to work with private healthcare in a much better way then it does now, like many European countries already do. There seems to be a big resistance to do this in the UK.

[Deegee]

I had medical insurance as part of my previous job between 2001-2013, in that time I had a knee repaired, 2 replacement hips and a skin melanoma scare allayed, I have nothing but good things to say about the private sector - based on my experiences.

Due to cost limitations one year I had shoulder physio running concurrently with hip physio, one private, the other NHS, it was night and day differences. I have no doubt that the people in the NHS would like to provide the same level of care as the private sector, but as said previously the time constraints and caseloads they have to live with slow down the system.

If I could change one thing about the private/NHS split, it would be to make private medical insurance tax deductible rather than BiK as it is now, it would encourage a lot more people take out MI for themselves and their families, and thus lift a large portion of the load on the NHS, and allow better care - providing government funding wasn't cut correspondingly of course. Unfortunately my experience of politicians says otherwise though.

[Blade]

I have it and had a lot of dental work done, multiple MRI scans & X-Rays, CT Guided Injections, 2 Operations and probably other stuff I have forgot.

Can't say a bad word against them even the customer services department at the end of the phone is perfect which is extremely rare these days.

I know for a fact I pay more into the NHS each month than I do into Private health care (including the company contributions) and even have to pay extra tax for not using the NHS even though I pay handsomely into the funding of it which is ironic and annoying.

In my experience the Private sector is how the NHS should be, minimal waiting times, extremely efficient, your treated with respect and as an actual customer (lost on the NHS, your expected to be grateful for what ever your lucky enough to receive) the facilities are first class and most importantly the treat is effective as opposed to just the cheapest option they have available.

[bb41]

My Mum has private medical care and it saved her life....but the NHS has picked up a problem that you won't get with private.
I'll try and keep it brief but here it is.

11years ago my mum was in terrible pain and went straight away to her GP, he wanted a scan ASAP . This was in November. The earliest she could get under NHS was March as it was a specialist scan but as she had private health insurance she had it done within 10 days. It turned out to be pancreatic cancer. It was detected early enough to enable surgeons to do what is called a whipple op.

For over 10 years she was taken care of with regular check ups.


Fast forward to her final checkup and blood test last year when they could finally say they have cured her (its 10 years in private and I think 5 years NHS)
Blood tests revealed that cancer was present and after further investigation it turned out she had lung cancer. Within days she was in and had a horrid op to remove the tumour . Again success and for the past 18 months everything hunky dory

Last night my mum woke me up at 2 .00am ( I built a granny annexe as I am the only family she has) I called Dr (NHS direct) they were then in 10 mins. whisked her off to local hospital but assured me she will be fine and no need to come up as it will just be precautionary.

Everything fine until Dr examined her a bit further and felt a chest X-ray wouldn't go amiss. Results were that it looks like cancer had returned to remaining lung but they didn't say as much

Managed to go to work after no sleep thinking all would be ok, got home and GP had called to tell her that it was likely it had returned.

Emailed consultant about 8.00 this even ing and all relevant tests were booked in with possibility of op in the next 10 days.

Now Mum is nearly 79 and without the NHS her first cancer wouldn't have been discovered and subsequent others but without private her life would have been lost a long time ago

[Perkles]

My mothers just been treated for cancer on the NHS and I was in hospital twice with them last year the care was exceptional.If your not happy with your GP change I looked until I found a good one,it took time but was worth it
Most private doctors do it as a sideline to the NHS anyhow

[Deegee]

Most private doctors do it as a sideline to the NHS anyhow

True, but it's only the ones that are good in their field that get invited to work for private hospitals in my experience.

[bb41]

My mothers just been treated for cancer on the NHS and I was in hospital twice with them last year the care was exceptional.If your not happy with your GP change I looked until I found a good one,it took time but was worth it
Most private doctors do it as a sideline to the NHS anyhow

Totally agree with that, it's not the quality of the Drs in question it's the time scale in which treatment can commence and what treatment is available .

If Mum had waited for the first scan on the NHS then it would of been too late to operate

[Roadrace]

I visited my NHS GP in 1998 with a problem with my eye that required minor surgery. I asked how long the waiting list was. His response (which still makes me smile)..."You won't be seen this millennium..."

He suggested I went private as it would be exactly the same surgeon performing the operation. For £195, I had the operation 3 days later.

[duke63]

I've tried changing GP and they wont allow me to join another surgery.

[Perkles]

I've tried changing GP and they wont allow me to join another surgery.

thats a pain ,i changed mine 3 times until I found a really good surgery

[Perkles]

I visited my NHS GP in 1998 with a problem with my eye that required minor surgery. I asked how long the waiting list was. His response (which still makes me smile)..."You won't be seen this millennium..."

He suggested I went private as it would be exactly the same surgeon performing the operation. For £195, I had the operation 3 days later.

whens your boob job coming through ?

[duke63]

I've tried changing GP and they wont allow me to join another surgery.

thats a pain ,i changed mine 3 times until I found a really good surgery

I've been told that if i already have a GP in the district then i wont be allowed to move to another one in the same area as they will refuse to take me on.

[Kwacky]

Sounds like you're being fobbed off to me. You can change and it's easy to do.

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1088.aspx?C ... goryID=158" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Deegee]

Ethics between Doctors is a completely different topic, strikes me that not allowing you to change GP 's is tantamount to a restrictive practice (no pun intended). I know several people that have changed GP in our town.

[duke63]

I have asked other local GP practices if i can move there and they have asked if i am already registered with a GP in the area. Once i say yes they always say they cannot take new patients already registered in the area.

[Kwacky]

However, if the GP does refuse to accept you, then they must have reasonable grounds for doing so. These must not have anything to do with race, gender, social class, age, religion, sexual orientation, appearance, disability or medical condition. The GP must give you the reasons for their decision in writing.

[Blade]

£30,000,000,000 short fall in next years NHS budget.

Talk of charging for some treatment and even a £10 charge for a gp appointment is being suggested.