AIBU For expecting more of a Private Hospital

[charliebear78]

Ok,So I went in for a NHS Procedure yesterday-I was given the option of three local Hospitals to go to,One of these was a Private Hospital-so I thought it would be "better" plus this particular Hospital could do the procedure sooner than the others,so great I thought, and chose that one.
I arrived on time and was quickly ushered through to my own en suite room and given a menu to chose what I wanted to eat afterwards-The Room was quite grotty with really old wooden furniture, The room was quite depressing and I was feeling nervous about the procedure(colonoscopy)
The curtains were drawn so I thought "lets open them and get some light in here,that will cheer me up a bit"
The window was all boarded up.
I then sat in that depressing windowless room for 3.5 hours until I was taken down to theatre!
The actual Colonoscopy took half an hour-afterwards I was given a cheese and ham toastie and a pot of tea-with a napkin!!!!
My Mum had the same thing done a month before at our local NHS Hospital and was in and out in the time I spent just waiting!!!!
I really cannot get over the wait time.Why did I need to go there just to wait for so long?
No one said sorry about the wait.
Just wanted to vent really.
I was already feeling nervous and worried and the time waiting on my own really got to me.
Thankfully all was ok.
Is this the norm for some Hospitals?!! I have NEVER had to wait so long before.
Do people pay for this? or is it because I am an NHS patient using their Hospital?

I've had 2 NHS operations in private units.

The first was fantastic: lovely room with sea view, tv and radio, fabulous nursing staff (the nurse on duty at night came and did paperwork in my room, because I was drowsy from morphine and puking from the anaesthetic and she was worried I might choke if I fell asleep) great breakfast and a free newspaper of my choice.

The second had a really great en suite room, and the staff were lovely, but the admin was shocking. They told me to go to the GP after a week to have my stitches out; when I did, they turned out to be soluble stitches. They also omitted to tell me I'd have to come back after 10 days to have the plaster cast changed and sent the appointment letter to my home address when I'd told them I would be staying at my partner's and given them his address.

I've had 2 NHS operations in private units.

The first was fantastic: lovely room with sea view, tv and radio, fabulous nursing staff (the nurse on duty at night came and did paperwork in my room, because I was drowsy from morphine and puking from the anaesthetic and she was worried I might choke if I fell asleep) great breakfast and a free newspaper of my choice.

The second had a really great en suite room, and the staff were lovely, but the admin was shocking. They told me to go to the GP after a week to have my stitches out; when I did, they turned out to be soluble stitches. They also omitted to tell me I'd have to come back after 10 days to have the plaster cast changed and sent the appointment letter to my home address when I'd told them I would be staying at my partner's and given them his address.

I had a colonoscopy done by the NHS last year and there was a long wait in a cubicle, like OhYouBadBadKitten.

When I'd recovered enough from the sedation, I got a couple of biscuits and a cup of tea. Then DH drove me home. I think this is normal so a toastie is an extra!

isn't this more about the idea that private hospitals are better? that's how they sell themselves to us, after all.

A family friend paid for private healthcare his whole adult life. It took ages for them to pick up on this cancer and when they finally did, he was sent straight to the NHS hospital who took over from there. Late diagnosis meant that his cancer was terminal.

Is it unreasonable to expect private hospitals to offer a better service than the NHS? No, I don't think it is. After all, if we didn't expect that, why would we pay?

Unless I'm mistaken, you jumped the NHS queue and got your treatment quicker. Yes?
So your 3 hr wait was instead of maybe a month's wait or longer on the NHS?

The room did sound grotty- never ever had anything like that in a private hospital. But maybe it was more a 'waiting room' for day cases like yours?

I think you need to focus on the fact you had your investigation quicker by using this hospital.

Did you ask why here was a wait? Lists are generally morning and afternoon. So maybe you were the last person to be done.

oh and my mum has had 3 procedures on the NHS but in private hospitals. You get an en-suite and better food. that seems to be it. the waiting, the staff, the basic procedure, the level of care...all the same.

The 4 exclamation marks after your comment about the toastie certainly indicate that this did not meet your expectations.

Nobody likes being in hospital or waiting for any kind of operation.

Meant to add: London Bridge Hospital certainly is gold standard. My mate had surgery there and the anaesthetist's fee alone was £11k. Not bad for 3 hours work! The total bill for a partial lobectomy and a 4 night stay was just shy of £100,000.

Her insurers were happy to pay it though. And she said the food was fantastic!

As a retired Theatre nurse I would say you were on a list!

These departments treat multiple people on Am Pm and all day lists

People are prioritised for many reasons, diabetes, anxiety being private to name a few

somebody will always be first and somebody last, if it reassures you it means you were lower risk than others and therefore put later on the list

Having worked in both NHS and private hospitals. Private hospitals don't prioritise the private patients, it will be down to the order of the list. There are many and varied factors as to what sorts the order of the list be whether you are actually paying is not one of them, as the hospital is being paid regardless.

Firstly, your expectations were raised because you wrongly assumed you would get better treatment because you went to a private hospital. NHS is NHS and they need to keep their private practice attractive.

Secondly, unless you know why you waited, you can't complain. Maybe the consultant was back from a funeral and delayed. Or maybe he encountered difficulties during his previous intervention and this ended up taking longer. Or maybe the consultant who was supposed to do the intervention was taken ill and another one had to do it.

It happens. If you were freighting, you should have mentioned it to the nurse and maybe she could have helped.

Wondering where this is as I had a very similar experience down to the pot of tea and napkin (but different procedure)! Does the hospital begin with a T?

I had a colonoscopy done as a private patient in a private hospital and arrived in the morning to have my procedure done at about 4pm. They just said they had to prioritise other people and as a healthy youngish woman I was happy to wait, if they felt someone else needed doing first. Also got a sandwich after

You can't expect a paid service when you haven't paid?

I don't know what you were expecting tbh....you got your procedure done without waiting weeks if not months....31/2 hrs to wait is nothing!

It's not fun having to wait but emergencies take priority

They don't do 'emergencies' in private hospitals (not A&E anyway!) All investigations and operations are planned. I've had several ops and procedures privately and it's all tightly scheduled.

(Unless a patient needed the same staff as was needed by the OP.)

I'm a nurse and used to work in a private hospital. We saw mostly private patients but sometimes NHS patients too.
For colonoscopy there would be a morning list and afternoon list. Everyone for morning list would come in at the same time, as the consultant would see everyone briefly and get consent. Then he/she would scrub up and remain in theatres until the list was over. So the person who was last on the list would have a 4 hour wait. We would pre warn patients of this and we had a separate coffee room with newspapers and books in that patients were welcome to use. Very nervous or elderly patients always went first, MRSA positive patients always went last (as theatre would need a deep clean afterwards). The rest was just luck of the draw. NHS patients treated the same as private but they would be most likely to get the crap bedroom (opposite the kitchen) and the consultant wouldn't go and see them personally afterwards.
Sounds like communication could have been better but otherwise perfectly normal to have a long wait.

DH was booked into our local private hospital for a hernia repair under the NHS, he arrived at 7am and was put into a glass cubicle. He saw the anaesthetist and surgeon before 8am and was then ignored until 4pm when they took him for his op. He was discharged at 6pm as the day surgery unit was closing.
For a comparable op in the NHS hospital he had to be able to pass urine and eat without vomiting before discharge.

angsty IME private hospitals do not offer a 'better' service, they offer more comfortable surroundings and quicker ops.

For serious diseases like cancer, there are generally (some exceptions) no dedicated private hospitals because the surgeons, specialists, consultants etc are the same whether you are private or NHS, and they need all the specialised equipment NHS hospitals offer. It would be too expensive to replicate cancer hospitals for both NHS and private patients.

Some private hospitals and clinics specialise in the more 'minor' or straightforward diseases and medical problems, so if you broke a leg for example, and went private, you would probably get the fruit bowl n the room, newspaper delivered every day etc.

3 hours isn't long - have just had a day op in a private hospital and waited 6 hours before I was taken down to theatre.

Any planned day procedure like this generally sees all patients told to turn up at the sane time for an am slot. So I was seen at 12 despite being in at 8 because I was last in the list. By doing it this way if someone doesn't show no time is wasted as you just see the next person.

All sounds normal. Be grateful you could be seen quickly and it's all done safely.

Are you seriously suggesting they keep special suites with boarded up windows to make sure NHS patients know their place??

You were kept waiting because there were others in the queue before you...

It's nothing to do with the fact you are an NHS patient. People automatically assume that because it is a private hospital, you get better treatment but this isn't always the case. The consultants tend to work on both private and NHS.
There's may have been complications with the patient before you or another matter that may have resulted in your wait