If you work in private healthcare, what preventative measures should NHS patients know about for reducing future health risks?

[Primrosetulipcrocus]

I’m wondering because Davina McCall spoke to a cardiologist on Instagram who said she takes Atorvastatin as a prophylactic, and so do lots of her cardiologist colleagues. Acceptable parameters for total serum cholesterol are far lower in private healthcare, presumably because people have the option to pay for statins.

As an NHS patient, I had no idea that this was an option.

I’m now wondering what else I should know that I don’t. What else should I know in order to proactively reduce future health risks that I don’t know as an NHS patient?

@Primrosetulipcrocus in case I wasn't clear

I feel that certainly NHS doctors are more concerned with preventing things than they are with ensuring that the patient has a full healthy life

I realise that they've got to prioritise what they're told to but I believe this is the space we are in at present

Most people who work in private health also work in the NHS. Would you benefit from a subscription to something like the BMJ perhaps?

statins are a difficult one - my dad was on them for years and years and even his doctors wondered if they contributed to his thrombocytopenia

It depends what your ultimate goal is, I suppose. Keeping up with the information provided by specialists is probably all you can do really - via blogs like this one

It seems to me there's a lot of health information about. At one point I requested an antidepressant from my doctor that he'd actually never heard of. It was on the NHS list but we can't expect a GP to be a specialist. It was a disaster for me - which is an interesting in itself because I wonder if that's one of the reasons it's not popular.

@EmeraldRoulette I explained the reason for this topic in my first post. Of course, we’re all different and I think my risks of cardiovascular disease are probably higher than thrombocytopenia. I am willing to take that risk.

Sorry your father’s experience wasn’t as good.

Not all cardiologists i know. Unless their results indicate they are required.

I didn’t want this thread to be only about statins. Hoping to gain to more nuggets of wisdom if possible, especially with doctors being on strike soon. Hopefully someone will have time to share a few more tips.

Quite.

Well no need to read this then.

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