...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.

The reason that the NHS is on the verge of breaking is that people have taken the piss. Going off to A&E for a bruise or getting paracetamol on prescription. The NHS should be there for everyone but we all need to think about when and why we use it and take some responsibility ourselves for the state it's in.

but there is something very hypocritical and annoying about being staunchly against something unless you or your family need it, then it's different.
This.

I think NHS or private- either is fine. But really hate the current ability to skip the queue by having a private consultation and being fed back into the NHS system ahead of those who can't afford it.

They are starting to get rid of this back door approach thankfully, so in some places to stay "ahead of where you should be" you need to stay private for the full course of treatment. This keeps a place free in the NHS system for someone who needs it, not the pay to get it quicker on the NHS approach.

I have comprehensive private healthcare insurance from diagnosis to treatment for me and the kids. It's great. Wouldn't go back to using the NHS.

Email the consultant’s private secretary.

My 20mo son was waiting months to see an ophthalmologist on the NHS when things suddenly worsened dramatically with two months left to go.

I found a paediatric ophthalmologist who works privately locally and I emailed explaining the situation and the deterioration and asked if he could see him privately. His secretary responded within a few days saying that he should really be seen in the NHS - the consultant was straight on the phone to the hospital, moved my son to his list and saw him the following week. He found something serious and has referred him for an MRI under general so thank goodness we were still within the NHS.

I’m not saying they’ll do the same but if it’s an emergency you might have some luck or you can just pay for an appointment sooner.

(Just to add, I didn’t ask or expect or even consider he would do this - I was genuinely willing to pay for the private appointment)

I don't agree that private practitioners are the ones breaking the NHS, any more than the teachers leaving state education in droves are responsible for the breakdown of the education system. The government are making working in these institutions unbearable to the point where they can't keep hold of staff, probably as a means of running it all down. The workers at the coal face are just doing what they can to survive.

Private practices are taking away nhs staff at a huge cost to the nhs.

This makes no sense. If staff reduce or eliminate their NHS hours, the NHS no longer has to pay them for those hours. There is no financial loss.

NHS staff are not slaves, the knowledge in their heads belongs to the individuals, not the NHS, so except to the extent they are bound by a contract that requires them to repay their training costs, they are entitled to sell their expertise to the highest bidder.

Staff turnover can be disruptive, but there is no reason the NHS should be exempt from something that every other employer regards as a normal part of doing business.

If the lost person-hours are re-deployed in the private sector, they will mostly be devoted to doing what should be NHS work, at no cost to the NHS, saving the NHS money.

I don't know why people are against going privately. If everyone who could afford to go privately decide to use their NHS entitlement instead, the NHS would collapse within 24 hours. ALSO, you cannot jump an NHS waiting list by "going private". The specialist you see privately cannot then put you on their NHS waiting list without seeing you again for a new patient consultation in the NHS with the usual wait for that to happen (your GP has to re-refer you to that specialist at their NHS address to get you this appointment). It is unethical and not permitted for hospital consultants to do otherwise. There is nothing wrong (in my view) with paying to have a consultation with a specialist, whilst understanding that this does not get you in anyway up the queue for NHS treatment quicker and if you are advised that you need any tests, you will have to pay for them privately or go back through the NHS system as I've outlined above (i.e. new patient NHS consultation first even though you know what tests are needed).

As long as you don't preach about socialism in your spare time and then conveniently and tiresomely forget that you're a socialist when it suits you/your family, like some of those Labour MPs and Guardian journos, go ahead.

I would pay, but then I've never pretended to be anything other than MOR politically so I'm no hypocrite.

If you can afford it then pay. I have private health care from work and try and use it rather than the NHS whenever I can. They have set private clinics so it's not like they are going to dump an NHS patient just to fit you in.

If people opted out of private we’d lose some of the experts who are very good at what they do. In turn lose the reputation as one of the best places to go across the world and lose people who pay to come here for it eg from the Middle East

I don’t get the idea that you can queue jump, the NHS referral has to come from the GP as pp mentioned. Plus if you pay £250 there’s all the treatment left to pay for in private - and that initial fee is a drop in the ocean compared to what it could be for everything

We have been in a private scheme for years, used it so many times unfortunately, well worth having it be seen quickly. Don’t feel guilty, you are seeing a consultant during their private time so you aren’t jumping the nhs queue, quite the reverse in fact. Totally worth it.

We have private cover and when you need to use it it is the most worthwhile thing we’ve ever paid for. Not having to wait when your child (or you) needs treatment is priceless.

Also it’s reaaaaal nice compared to NHS hospitals etc. (But I adore the NHS too, just having plush waiting areas etc does feel nice)

Also we get £200 optical cover each year, and dental stuff reimbursed etc.

Really worthwhile IMHO

But the op is only paying for one consultation? And not joining private. Op are you thinking about covering all the treatment you might need?

As long as you don't preach about socialism in your spare time and then conveniently and tiresomely forget that you're a socialist when it suits you/your family, like some of those Labour MPs and Guardian journos, go ahead.

This is nonsense. People have to operate within the sustem that exists. If the NHS has severely let them down, as I have experienced myself, being a socialist in no way prevents you from choosing an option that exists. If it were depriving the NHS of money in doing so, that would be different. But it isn’t.

the specialist you see privately cannot treat you on the NHS without seeing you as a new patient consultation in the NHS first

There is no such blanket rule. DH sees patients for a private consultation, then if they have no insurance and can’t afford to pay for their investigations or treatment themselves, he refers them for whatever tests/ treatment they need on the NHS. Obviously they have a wait for those things to happen, (eg colonoscopy wait at our Trust is about 6 weeks). But he certainly doesn’t see them in outpatients first - that would be an absolute waste of precious appointments. I can’t speak for what every Consultant does, or what rules other hospitals have, but I dont know any of his colleagues that see the patient again in outpatients.

I had my tests and consultations privately, unfortunately for me I had a confirmed diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and and then trans to NHS care under the same consultant. Some of my tests were under the NHS such as blood tests and chest X-ray, MRI’s were private. Try not to worry OP, based on my experience seeing a consultant privately does not negate your DD right to NHS treatment. I hope your DD is better soon.

If it's something which you can have done privately, absolutely. Bear in mind though that depending on where you are, and what is wrong, there might not be a specialist privately. DS needed an obscure orthopaedic procedure done and when we saw the NHS consultant he said he didn't do private work and didn't know anyone else who did that particular thing either.

So we waited.

I had a hysterectomy privately and yes I skipped the massive queue. It also meant I could choose when I went in, choose my surgeon, choose when I went for follow-up appointments. It offers an awful lot more flexibility.

You can definitely switch back to NHS

But the wait must be the same as if you didn’t do private?

Please play close attention to previous posters advising you to check out the situation re any further care after the £250 consultants appointment.
It is very easy to pop along for "one appointment to put my mind at rest" and then find yourself funnelled into exquisitely expensive ongoing investigations/ treatment. The prices are not always made clear in advance and you will feel enormous pressure to proceed, without returning to the NHS. Not saying you shouldn't do it but do go into it with your eyes open. I am talking about my experience where I rather stupidly spent thousands (yes, thousands) in an afternoon and have been regretting it ever since. What a fool.
People on this thread with private healthcare insurance, with low excesses, are in a very different situation.

Another socialist with no problem with private healthcare, I don't know any that do! It frees up capacity for a woefully underfunded NHS, meaning those that cannot afford to go private get treated more quickly. Win win.

What I (and many others) disagree with is private contractors costing the NHS a fortune for things that could be done in house for far less. That's irrelevant to the OP's situation, but might be what some people are getting confused about.

Marsha it depends what you mean by “the wait” yes the wait for any tests / treatment would be the same, but without the wait for an initial consultation with that particular specialist. At least that’s the way it works in our area anyway.

Thanks Missy that makes sense

I just had a stressful time as private messed up the cover, I had to tell about ten people their own t&c’s to prove it

So I bounced around a bit and the lead times were very different. Which has made me more interested in the whole process

One thing’s for sure I’m so grateful private means top surgeons are accessible in the U.K. whether you go private or state

You do realise that the quality of healthcare your recurve of you go private is at least as good as (although usually better) than NHS standards right? I mean the quality of care in the NHS is apalling as you should know given your current exposure to it. You are frightened of the wrong beast.