...about private healthcare?

[Bebepoor]

DD needs to see a consultant. There’s an NHS waiting list of 16 weeks to get an appointment which could then be a further 16 weeks away. Or we could pay £250 for a consultation next week with the same woman privately.

I am extremely uneasy about private healthcare but I’m finding it hard to stay principled when it’s my DD.

More of a WWYD I suppose.

I wouldn’t even think twice.

Of course go private. Your child needs treatment. Why are you even thinking about not doing so? Politics?

Rethink your beliefs, not your daughter’s wellbeing.

It's not about principles. It's about your daughters health. Got to do it.

Go private. Agreed with it's not about principles, its about health.

I'd love to think that there was no disparity between public and private healthcare but its simply not true. It's your daughter's health.

I'm staunchly against the use of private health care as a way to jump waiting lists for myself or something that can wait, but for my daughter? No chance.

The same with private education. My children needed the extra assistance that the private schools in our area offered over the state schools. They actually need it. They need to be multilingual like they almost are to be able to talk to and connect with different sides of their family, but it had dramatically slowed their progression at school (KS1). I believe in good education for all, and that state schools should be providing it, but it isn't the case and my children needed more so I went against what I 'believe'.

Don't give into the guilt, Op. it's okay.

Don’t be silly.

And I see nothing wrong with private, if all those choosing private healthcare and private schooling suddenly grew your “morals” and hit the system we’d be fucked.

All depends on how urgent the issue is, how much disposable cash you have and if you can morally justify it to yourself I guess. Personally unless it was life or death situation i wouldn’t be going private, especially as you know you will be getting seen though the nhs

And by doing that you’ve just further encouraged that doctor towards maintaining her private practice. I understand completely why you would do it, but if it’s non urgent it may be worth considering that.

Pay so you don’t have to wait

If you’ve got the £250 there should be no question in your mind. Yes, you see the same doctor but the big difference between nhs and private is SPEED.
Get her seen!

Yes we can afford it.

DD’s condition isn’t life threatening or urgent and the (potential) 32 week wait shouldn’t negatively affect her but it will mean that the next things to happen (biopsies & scans) are all that much more delayed too.

Why are people staunchly against it? Because they don’t want to pay?

My daughter needs to be seen “urgently” by a consultant she’s under on the NHS when I spoke to the hospital on Tuesday, as we all expected the appointment by now I was told she was on the waiting list for an urgent appointment, yesterday the letter came through probably pushed by my conversation and she can be seen early July
I have reasons for preferring the NHS but actually if that’s the list for urgent and we have the insurance (through DH work) to go privately there’s probably another child out there who needs the slot more than she does.
Do I wish she could be under NHS care yes, but the reality is there is a glut of need and now sometimes the kinder thing to do when it’s necessary is to go into the private sector

In which case op no I wouldn’t be going private even for my dd. I personally couldn’t morally justify it.

Morals? Getting something for free is more moral? I don’t get it!

Isn’t it a good thing that people using private frees up the NHS a bit? Waiting times are so long as it is

We have health insurance. DD gets seen the same day. We pay the doctor for his time. Simple.

Marsha That’s what confuses me. We pay our doctor and we pay taxes. What is morally wrong about that?!

OP, is it you who oversees the NHS system that rations healthcare, and leaves people to wait in pain, often while their condition deteriorates, just to get 20 minutes with a consultant?

Thought not. So why the guilt? Shrug it off and go for the private consultation for your DD's sake.

I don’t know Soapbox, we’ve paid private for ten years and not used it until now. Isn’t it a good thing that by doing that the massively overstretched NHS is not relied upon in this instance. Someone else can see the same surgeon earlier than otherwise

I don't have anything against private healthcare or private education and use both myself, but there is something very hypocritical and annoying about being staunchly against something unless you or your family need it, then it's different. So other people use it because they're elitist but you use it because it's necessary. Either use it, and support others who do the same, or don't.

It’s to late to get into a massive debate about this for me but by going private, IMO you are supporting a two tier system of healthcare eg - those that can afford it and those that can’t. Like another poster said you are supporting doctors to do more private work when they are very much needed to be doing nhs work. Going private creates a divide which I don’t believe should be there. The nhs should be available to all no matter what your income. Private practices are taking away nhs staff at a huge cost to the nhs. IMO private practices are destroying the nhs. The government is allowing, infact encouraging this. However rich people don’t really see this or care much as they have money / insurance and therefore know themselves and their family and friends will be ok. Meanwhile your average joe is left without a consultant as they have gone private.

Hairy fairy makes the point part time NHS consultants earn around 90% of full time NHS consultants
When I was youngest a girl in my class and I had the same appointment time for the same consultant at different hospitals one of us was seeing her privately the other on the NHS guess which one saw her
With my daughter the NHS consultant she was supposed to see strolled through the waiting area on his way out whilst we were waiting to see him and she saw the Registrar who was more than competent
I’m not kidding myself that being seen privately takes consultants away from NHS work but my daughter is suffering and the only Drs who can make this end and who have the reputation in this field are NHS/private ones and I’m not going to watch her suffer when there is another choice just because some mandarin has allowed these crap contracts

I despise the Dr she’ll see but I know he can help her and there aren’t other choices for going private not a single Dr in this field practices solely privately

I think it’s perfectly possibly to believe that there should be one universal healthcare system available to all but to acknowledge that your own, or your DD’s health needs to come first. It’s not her fault the system is broken and she’s faced with an unacceptably long wait for an appointment. Blame whoever you like, the system stinks but if you don’t go private the only one that suffers is your DD who has a prolonged wait for her treatment, biopsies etc.