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.

No - they would send you right back to the NHS anyway when they don't have the specialism/ facilities to treat you.

No it's a ridiculous and impractical idea.

Is that true?
I'm mid 50s and I don't have any, neither does my husband.

Same.

Previously went to Clementine Churchill who had a private A&E. Just as I arrived and gave my name I was asked to produce a credit card for a £250 triage nurse and GP assessment. I must admit the service was brilliant, within 10 minutes I was reassured however I was told it would be a further few £100 for a blood test to rule anything further out or an additional £1000 odd for any MRi / CT scans. GP himself advised that he didn't think it was anything urgent and to make a regular appt with my local for any further tests

@Kendodd Yes. It includes mental health conditions, allergies, asthma, high blood pressure, back problems. The kind of things that are very common.

@JSDS They do not have an A and E. Sounds like urgent care for more minor issues.

In my area a 24 hour urgent care/minor injuries unit literally opened today. I find this a relief, it should hopefully ease the A&E pressure. God knows how long the wait will be if you go there though. Thankfully haven't needed either since 2019.

I remember a nurse leaving the ward I used to work on and deriding the procedures in place in the private hospital she left for.

@Pixiesgirl Someone posted on this thread that the average wait in NHS urgent care centres is 2 hours. I have used our local one and it was good. The busiest time though is Sunday lunchtime and afternoons with sporting injuries.

We have a private urgent care centre near me. It doesn’t treat all the things an A&E can treat and it’s not 24 hour. I went there to get my finger xrayed. It was great.

It can work really well. I live in a country (where a lot of your NHS guys are flocking to at present 😊), in a city that has a few private hospitals with A&E. Until fairly recently I also worked in A&E (public) for decades. Have visited the private A&E’s so know their set-ups and how they work so happy to answer any questions.

Top line stuff though is that we don’t have a seperate ambulance system. If your issue can be dealt with at the private hospital and you request to go there then the ambo’s drop you off there. They don’t do trauma so all those cases still go in via public A&E. Otherwise it’s variable, one private has an excellent state of the art cardiac centre, so heart attacks etc you would be better going there than public frankly - not due to standard of care, merely wait time, not being ramped etc. Strokes, ditto, you would be better off simply due to no ramping. Otherwise for walk-ins, you are better off going in to private A&E for sporting injuries, general broken bones, torn ligaments, children with fevers, childhood accidents, needing stitches etc. They have general surgeons, on call specialties and theatres so a lot can be dealt with there and it does help take the pressure off public A&E. I wish there were more of them.

Ironically, we do have some private hospitals here with care and equipment equivalent to our top tertiary public hospitals but they don’t have A&E’s. They are staffed by the same specialists/consultants in the tertiary public’s (they split their time), have equivalent ICU’s etc.

So it is more a private urgent care centre than a private A and E.
They are taking the patients that make business sense, and leaving expensive trauma cases to the public A and E. This is what already happens in some private hospitals in London.

I couldn't pay

I'm not paid enough to pay for any health insurance, which would cover multiple chronic illnesses

I love the whole concept of the NHS, most of the people I know who work for it do it for the right reason and I’ve had more positive than negative experiences in its service. BUT it’s completely broken. I don’t blames the Tory’s (always voted labour) as all governments over the years have screwed it or the country’s abilities to support it one way or another.

Ive lived in countries with private healthcare, subsidised healthcare and hands down would back a part privatised system. I knew living in these countries I’d have medical responsibilities the problem is UK residents have never had to have these.

There needs to be a complete culture change and we need to stop and look at what’s the best way for us to fully support and fully functional healthcare system.

If such a thing was plausible then yes, and it would prevent a lot of the time wasters that currently attend a&e.

@AliceMcK Are you implying if people have to pay they look after their health more? Because the evidence does not support that conclusion. Look at the US.

Private A&E definitely does exist. I used it when I broke my toe 18 hours before going on holiday and also when DC was sent home from school with a suspected fracture. Well worth spending the £90 or so that it cost to be seen within an hour with X-rays and follow up appointments arranged on the spot.

Unfortunately it's only open until 9pm and I recently had to attend A&E with a gallstone and waited 11 hours to see a doctor.

That is an urgent care centre. The NHS has them too. It is not A and E. It is meant for simple things like broken bones and stitches. Not anything life threatening or complex.
Average wait time in NHS Urgent care centres is 2 hours.

Yes. it wouldn’t work in a lot of cases though as people may need to be admitted to a ward.

My pregnant friend had bad HG and maternity made her wait in a&e for 8 hours constantly throwing up so they could check she was ‘stable’ before maternity would see her. Surely private would be able to help with that.

It would obv help if GPs and other services were open at the weekends.

I’m personally very lucky that my only recent experience of a&e was for my 1 year old when he has RSV and they were very good. I had no signal to contact my DH and i wasn’t given a chance to get food or drink for hours, but obv my DC being treated on time was most important.

More? Have you any idea how lucky people in the UK have had and have it?

The NHS is completely flawed and if something is not done it will be far worse for us than Americans as no one will be prepared for it if or when it’s privatised.

i lived in countries where I knew as a non resident I had costs to meet, as a non citizen I had other costs and even when I became a resident then citizen I still had costs to meet. Each varied on my residence status. As a full citizen I still paid GP & prescription fees, necessary medical procedures would usually be for free, elective carried costs regardless. Everyone regardless of status had emergency care. We had 7 days a week medical care with a&e’s not being overwhelmed. Medical insurance was part of employment contracts.

I live in Sydney and I’m aware of a couple of private an and e here although I’ve never used them. The people I know who have, have used them primarily for their children to avoid a longer wait or perhaps on a Saturday night when they know an and e might be busier/full of drunks. It’s part of a private hospital and has a good reputation.

To be fair, we’ve only used an and e twice (public) and the wait was short the first time as my son was having an allergic reaction. The second time my son had a suspected broken finger and the wait was long and the nurse said we could either wait and have a free x Ray or pop over the road and pay for one so I did that, it was around $100 I seem to recall and we got some back from Medicare.

As a doctor I doubt it’s possible. Private minor injuries maybe. Not major trauma etc.

You also need access to specialties. I’m a medic so most ED patients who are admitted are referred to us. How would the private A&E have the specialties on site?

If there was a two tier system in same hospital I can’t see any of my colleagues prioritising a private patient with asthma over a nhs major trauma. There are very good reasons why this is pretty much the only thing you can’t pay for privately.

Private healthcare is rubbish if you’re desperately unwell. It’s mainly for clinic appointments, routine surgery and in a small number of centres maternity care. If I was a private inpatient I’d choose one of the wards attached to an nhs hospital. If you have a cardiac arrest in a private hospital the odds aren’t great.

All these threads about improving the nhs. I’ve not seen even one vaguely sensible suggestion by a poster who doesn’t say they are a doctor/nurse/paramedic etc. The general public make some terrible suggestions! I’m sorry but they do. I know nothing about improving policing as I’m a doctor, non healthcare workers don’t really understand how the nhs works. What everyone does seem to understand though is that sadly the nhs is very broken right now.

I have. There are 2 near me and I used one in January for me. I used to take my kids more often when they were young. I am in NW London though. The A&Es here are more the Urgent Care variety- so not for major trauma or a heart attack. But for your run of the mill lesser ailments that seem to clog up the NHS A&E often unnecessarily after hours. They remain open till 10-11pm so not 24 hours. I have used them for acute sinusitis, tonsillitis,ear infections, a variety of infections plaguing the children. My friend recently had her teenager diagnosed with glandular fever (mono). The cost is about £120 (plus any special tests). Bupa covers some of the cost if you go to a specific chain hospital. Whilst it is very convenient to deal with an ailment without waiting for 4-5 hours+ at my local NHS hospital at 9pm, I'm always fearful we may end up becoming like the US -over reliant on private healthcare... Slippery slope.

There is what is in effect a private A&E near me in Sydney. It costs $230 (around £115) to access. They will do x-rays, CT scans, blood tests and MRIs on the spot. You are usually seen within 15 minutes. You can be admitted to the private hospital they are affiliated to if necessary. Lots of kids there after Saturday sport having x-rays/broken bones cast. We have probably used it half a dozen times, for me it is worth the cost. It also has the benefit of not clogging up the local hospital A&E which is actually pretty good but you will have to wait and may have to return for tests rather than having them done on the spot.