Paying for an operation privately but performed in an NHS hospital - has anyone had any experience of this??

[BorntoDillyDally]

Quick background - FIL has been experiencing some health issues over the last few years. He had an exploratory procedure (via the NHS) in May. An issue was discovered. He is still yet to hear back from the department.

The issue worsened very much over the summer and resulted in a hospital stay so FIL decided he wanted it resolved and went down the private route. We had a consultation with a private consultant (who also works at our local NHS hospital) and was told he could perform the op privately, no issue. FIL has decided to go ahead with this. The operation is booked for the end of this month.

We assumed it would all go ahead at the local private hospital but have discovered that due to a number of potential complications (FIL being 85 and medically obese), the op will be performed at our local NHS hospital but still under the private hospital. It will cost him £25k.

We had the final consultation yesterday and had naturally assumed FIL would be transfered back to the private hospital after the op, when he was settled (the private hospital is just over a mile away from the NHS one) but have been told it is safer for him to spend his complete stay at the NHS hospital. The op will be about 5 hours long and if all goes well it should be a 2 day recovery stay.
Of course the safest place for him is the best place for him and if this is the NHS hospital then so be it.

In all honesty I didn't even know private paying patients were having operations within NHS settings but I suppose it all helps go towards the NHS purse?

Has anyone done this? How did it go?

@thelovelyview if it wasn’t for the PP workload in the business case we wouldn’t have our lovely new operating theatre which treats nhs patients four days a week and has solved capacity issues for three surgical specialties.

it’s not as simple as nhs shouldn’t be doing private work. The current resourcing pretty much mandates it.

What a mess, though, @BeaTwix.

DH just had an operation and is in the private wing of a large London hospital. The care has been superb and the whole point of being here was in case he needed the ICU which is NHS. DH is now of an age and has various issues so that he can’t have an operation in an ordinary private hospital and we aren’t very keen on our local NHS hospital.

I had this recently. Basically I saved a few thousand pounds by having my gallbladder removed in an NHS hospital but done privately by the consultant and anaesthetist. I paid the hospital separately.
I had a private room but without the bells and whistles like the better food etc. I was in less than 24 hours so didn't make any difference to me except for the cost. I will say I had the choice though.

It's a shame our local hospital doesn't have this, it's a side room if fil is offered one or one is available or he will be one of 6 on a ward which we would like to avoid if possible.

Why? The surgeons do their private work on their days off so that doesn’t affect NHS waiting lists at all. The theatre rooms are free and booked in advance. The NHS is paid for the use of this so surely it’s a win win?

Because free operating theatres should be in use for NHS operations. Judging by your username, I am wondering if you’re in the US, anyway?

And they would be in use by the NHS - if they had doctors, nurses and equipment available. But they don't. Some of the availability that there is is paid for from the income from the private sector. I think the NHS is a wonderful thing and want to see it restored to the kind of service that it ought to be and could be. But that is not going to happen without massive tax rises that do far more than replace any lost private sector income (so that means an awful lot more than £700million+ per annum). Unless they miraculously find that lose change down the back of the sofa that has come from the savings produced by Brexit that we were promised?

When I had my ankle operated on, I was in the private section of an NHS hospital. The two theatres used by the private surgeons were actually funded and equipped by the private sector and provided to the NHS at no cost two days a week (when not in use by the private sector). All the NHS had to do was staff them when they used them and ensure they were cleaned.

The relationship between the NHS and the private sector is complex, and it is no longer a case of theirs and ours. And it doesn't need to be. Many NHS facilities remain closed or near empty for many days because they can't afford to run them, not because they are being used by the private sector.

I had an Op at The Marsden. I was a private patient but done on the NHS as only they offered this robotic surgery. The first night I was in the HDU, so NHS. I then was moved to a private room - however I did have to ask for that move - as PPs have mentioned, the staff unaware I was private so I had to alert them and ask for the move to a private room.

How on earth does my username indicate I’m in the US? 😵‍💫😁😁 No I’m in the UK.

Free operating theatres may not always have NHS staff to use them 24/7. For me personally, it’s a non issue that they get use for both sectors.

Yes, my child. Whilst it may feel somewhat ‘no frills’ it’s a better, safer option.

When DH had a major op, we enquired about doing it privately and the consultant said he wouldn't be prepared to so the op in a private hospital beciase of the need for the NHS facilities if something went wrong.

It does (amd did) make me at the ethics of it all, but the NHS hospital is the best place for him.

Private hospitals do not have Intensive Care Wards so they are obviously hedging their bets as to how the operation goes and for his recovery. I wouldn’t want to be in a private hospital for what sounds like a major operation .

I had a surgery privately in a NHS hospital , the private hospital did not have the same facilities in terms of key hole surgery options

This happened to my dad.

He paid for a private operation because it was going to be 3 years on the waiting list. He was operated on by the same surgeon as he would have been operated on in the NHS, in the same hospital, recovered in the same ward and was treated by the same nurses, but he was seen within three weeks and not three years. It’s pretty normal.

It's extremely common, and much better to be somewhere with an ITU. It's not about nice decor and fancy food - he's paying for medical skill and proper care.