Would you pay for private A and E?

[Albertslittletie]

I’ve had three horrible A and E visits that have left me with PTSD and health anxiety. I’ve got private insurance with BUPA but I was thinking, if there was a way to pay for private A and E, I would.

i hate myself for thinking that because im just falling into the Tory plan but is the NHS ever going to recover? I don’t know.

would private hospitals take the strain and wait times down for regular hospitals or would they just start reducing funding for them and make them shit and then healthcare becomes worse for those who can’t afford it?

curious for thoughts.

Yes, I would be very happy to pay for a private A&E, the NHS version terrifies me

I don't think private A+E would be viable from a provider POV. They'd need to move people on to NHS services and wouldn't have a direct route in.

I didn’t think private services cover A & E

Yes, I was just thinking this today. I would pay for sure.

If your mental illness meets the Equality Act definition of a disability then the public sector equality duty means that the NHS has to make reasonable adjustments for you proactively.

At present there is no 24 hour private A&E outside London I think.

If you get properly sick in most private hospitals in the UK, they bung you in an ambulance to the nearest NHS hospital. So I can't seem them doing proper A&E well.

I suspect a large part of the issue is the resourcing and facilities that they would need and the distance required to cover. A private A&E presumably also includes a private ambulance service that needs to be able to get to all customers, regardless of where they live, and safely being them to the A&E. Private emergency vehicles won’t automatically have the ability and excemption to drive/park on the highway in the same way the NHS ones can.

I wouldn’t pay but aside from some horrible wait times I’ve generally had positive experiences when visiting A&E. I have had a couple of occasions where a doctor was rude/ judgemental but I don’t believe that going private would solve those issues, if anything I think the likelihood of meeting an arrogant doctor with no bedside manner would be higher in the private sector.

Private A&E doesn't exist.

No. Emergency critical care is usually one of the strengths of the NHS especially if you are near a major trauma centre. I can’t see a rarely used private centre being much good to be honest. How would it be staffed and funded?
I would rather see it all properly funded. Sorry you’ve had negative experience they are so increasingly common.

No. The good thing about a&e is the access it has to other specialties, imaging, diagnostics, surgery etc. No private provider would have the breadth of services needed.

Me too but I’m losing faith it’s ever going to happen….

Think logically, a private A&E isn't going to be commercially viable unless you've got enough people coming through the door.

If you are admitted for a few days/week/month where are you being warded too private hospitals are not set up for this type of stays....so would you be transferred to NHS?

What about critical care type situations? ITU etc?

Or is your idea more of a private minor injuries unit?

Private hospitals don't typically have A and E. Generally they're in the business of making money and A and E is prohibitively expensive when that's your main aim.

It's conveniently glossed over when Tories and their supporters bang on about how wonderful private healthcare is going to be and how the NHS should be dismantled.

If you really want a shock look up the price of medication purchased privately.

you need a whole hospital to support an A&E, itu radiology etc etc. not sure what private hospital has that.

Yes, the whole point of the post if you’d bothered to read it properly

If there was a private version of A&E I would happily pay for it. I have no faith in my local hospital at all. My friend's son died because A&E failed to spot an issue on 3 separate occasions.

Private minor injuries clinic is something I would support.

No Private A and E is only financially viable for things like broken limbs or easy to treat stuff. For times you really need A and E, a private A and E would be extremely expensive.

Even if it were financially viable, people without insurance would turn up and have
to be turned away, which could get nasty.

I think A&E is too difficult for private providers - a 24 hour service that's ready for anything is quite a big ask!

Depending on how you ended up in A&E, you can get private GP appointments etc including out of hours. But if it is genuinely an emergency situation, the NHS is the only thing that's set up for it (albeit not brilliantly right now)

I think this is the issue. Private providers simply don't have the capabilities to deal with complex A&E issues
There might possibly be a role for a private service in minors/urgent care but the public would struggle to know where to go

Interesting question.

The only time I've been to A&E as an adult, I'd been going to my gp for 6 months complaining of increasing pain & pressure. He insisted I had IBS and in the last visit told me I was 'a woman of a certain age, seeking attention'.

So communication broke down, I decided to find another gp, two days later I collapsed in the street & was taken in to A&E by an ambulance crew. I don't know if there was any waiting around. I was unconscious.

Not IBS but an ovarian dermoid, necrotic ovary & fallopian tube, and a raging abdo infection. Three hour op, seven days in women's surgical and seven weeks off work.

Where would the private bit stop and the free bit start?

Happens all the time in some countries. They hire security to turn ill people away who can not pay.