To think it's easier to access high quality medical care for pets than humans?

Absolutely bloody this! Currently have an elderly relative in this situation. Emergency at 2am…no ambulance available so taxi to A&E. He’s been in hospital for 2 days now, every Dr that comes tells them something different. No coherent plan, no communication, lots of medical staff saying of “it’s the weekend” or “it’s busy”. No actual idea of what is wrong with him. And a ton of excuses. This shit show is what I pay 7 figures a year in tax for?

No it won’t. Because - outside London - there are no private A & Es. And it isn’t the case anymore that the NHS excels at emergencies. Tell that to those who die in pain waiting for or in an ambulance or in a hospital corridor.

You don't need to go through an employer - that was just an example. There are lots of options available for private healthcare - as PP mentioned, some bank accounts provide access. You can go "PAYG". You can sign up to prescription services. You can pay for things like Denplan that offers you X and Y per year for a set monthly cost. You can use credit cards (not ideal, but possible). You can pay monthly like you can for animals etc.

I don't think I ever said it was okay, did I?

But it's still true that there's no outlay at the point of access.

Obviously everyone's standards are different but I would have thought most people would not class repeatedly falling off a trolley in a corridor as "medical treatment".

My cat broke her leg at the same time my mum was as diagnosed with cancer. I received more kindness, more information and better care from the vet. Pity he couldn’t have been the one to break the news to my mum of her diagnosis and look after her instead of a few of the bloody horrible nurses on her ward.

You are comparing private healthcare for the cat with socialised healthcare for the human population.

Nothing indicates outcomes would be the same.

It's not not wanting to explore them, it's more that not everyone has the same employer as you.

@Barnbrack I should bloody well hope there's no outlay on the day, for spending 25 hours on a bloody trolley.

It's no outlay upfront, though. You can show up to the hospital now and get treated - if you have a pet, it's often several hundred just to get through the door at the weekend.

But it does exist, which is the point. I had private healthcare through my previous employer and we're not talking some highly paid, highly skilled role either - it was lower end management.

We have lots of options in the UK it's just that we're so used to the NHS that nobody wants to explore the other choices.

Yes but no outlay on the day. I pay tax, ni etc as well. I'm happy to have that cover kids and people who can't pay for themselves too.

This is not completely true. There are huge staff shortages in the veterinary industry due to fewer overseas vets coming post brexit and poor retention of experienced vets due to burnout and relatively poor pay for permanent staff. Most practices are relying heavily on locums.

there are a lot of school leavers desperate to go to both vet school and med school and a lot more unis offering spaces. Unfortunately there is a shortage of new grad/junior doctor training places for medical graduates and new grad jobs (with mandatory supervision) for vets - so lots of graduates can’t find work/ end up working in bars and coffee shops and there are still ongoing shortages of fully qualified/experienced medics in hospitals and vet clinics.

The two professions do mirror each other somewhat in this regard. Though veterinary services are private services which are market lead while the nhs has a fixed budget which has to be rationed/shared out amongst an ageing, sicker population.

Have a look around - I think I saw one of the premium bank accounts including private GP access.

One of the private providers round us does a subscription service that gives access to private GP appointments.

As you say, on a piecemeal basis.

You can have that too depending on the employer.

It's not no outlay! My mother paid tax and NI for fifty years to spend 25 hours falling off a trolley in a corridor last autumn.

Some kind of co-pay system, possibly with employer contributions, as happens in most developed countries, to flatten the cost of premiums and widen coverage.

It's still better than I'd expect for my pets with no outlay.

I agree we could be doing uthoverhaul but people don't notice how much the nhs gets right because we're so used to it while we'd be effed without it.

You can "pay as you go" with private healthcare too if you want, you don't need to have insurance.

What other middle ground did you want?

@Barnbrack I realise in an emergency one will usually receive sufficient care of an expected standard. But really, in 2026, this is nothing to shout from the rooftops about. It's a bare minimum expectation for a modern healthcare service.

If you're willing to pay for medical care you can access pretty much anything. There's not private A&E, but you can get consultants to see you at home or access private urgent care centres if you are willing to pay enough.

It's easy not to appreciate how much medical care if really costing, because in the NHS you will never see a bill.

Unless you are earning over 45K a year you aren't a net contributor to the system.

There does need to be significant change in the UK to healthcare and it probably involved much larger portions of the population having private healthcare.

@saltandvinegarpringles Exactly, there's no middle ground.

It works pretty bloody well for an awful lot of things. Especially emergencies. As someone who has had paediatric admissions with both children and 1 paeds surgery and I myself am waiting for gallbladder surgery and had ultrasounds, painkillers, surgery consultation and now close to top of the list again for zero pennies. I still have flair ups and there is a wait but it's also not life threatening, my sisters gallbladder became life threatening and was removed in 48 hours.

I work in a specific department with lots of long term elderly patients and we are as efficient if not more efficient than private hospitals (which I've also worked on) just a bit less glossy and shiney

You can pay for private health insurance that works like pet insurance if you want, but it's bloody expensive.

Yes but it's all pay full costs. As well as paying tax and NI for a national service that doesn't work. There's none of the middle ground that pet insurance plans operate within. It's the worst of both worlds.