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Original poster

Appointment with GP - heart sunk

261 replies

MarriedThreeChildren · 11/04/2022 10:12

Had an appointment last week with my GP. I’ve had a bad flare up from a chronic illness.

Went through everything, agreed to be referred back to hospital consultant. And then came the killer question

Do you have an insurance and want to go private or are we going NHS?

With the clear feeling that really the ‘right’ answer was going private :(:(

Since when is the NHS pushing patients to go private? Not so long ago it was such a big No-No. No GP would ever ask that question as a routine question. Rather people would ask if they knew they could get quicker/see who they wanted to see.

But here we go. The system is so fucked up that GPS are now trying to push people to go private rather than NHS.

I find it extremely worrying (I mean which insurance will ever cover me with a chronic condition that has been there for 15 years anyway??). Is it now the only way to get some decent medical support?
I have no idea when I will be able to see the consultant. GP ‘wasn’t aware about the lead times’ (last time I went to see them the wait was about 1 years. It was pre covid etc…. So I suspect…. much more than that…)

OP posts:
EmbarrassingHadrosaurus · 11/04/2022 11:41

@Hersetta427

Maybe that was just a way if you have private medical insurance through work maybe not necessarily asking you to pay out for private treatment
Yes a number of firms provide this. Not all self-employed people but a number have it as it makes sense for them.
Wheresthebeach · 11/04/2022 11:41

I agree the NHS is on it's knees and something has to be done (and no...not privatisation). This round of Covid is appalling and we've a backlog that's going to take years to clear. Seems to me that its a sensible question though in the circumstances - the more people that use their private healthcare the less people going through the already over burdened NHS.

Andouillette · 11/04/2022 11:44

@Gwenhwyfar

"I taught she would be happy to keep people off NHS lists were possible to speed things up for those who couldn’t afford insurance."

How does that work if it's the same doctor doing the work? It's just jumping the queue.

It works because the doctors concerned are usually seeing private patients outside their contracted NHS hours. Simple as that, it has no impact on how many NHS patients they see.
Doggirl · 11/04/2022 11:46

What needs to happen is that it is used for the NHS round the clock

In an ideal world, yes. But you would have to deal with a lot of people who don't think medical staff (except those in designated emergency services) should have to work unsociable hours.

I've posted elsewhere about my experience needing an ultrasound out of office hours. I was admitted as an emergency late on a Friday evening, no-one even talked about a scan until I'd been left until early Saturday morning awaiting a bed. They then said no USs were done between noon on Saturday and Monday morning. For an emergency! In a 'world class' London hospital! Because of the backlog, I was finally scanned late on Monday afternoon. I was no longer feeling ill by then, but almost certainly permanent damage had been done.

tiredwardsister · 11/04/2022 11:49

Firstly the private sector does not want and is unable to cope with acute emergencies baring a few hospitals in London and even then if your being scraped off the road the NHS will always be the best place for you because quite simply it has the expertise.
But the private sector is keen to pick up routine stuff e.g. hip replacements and hospital appointments for some chronic illnesses dermatology rheumatology etc because this is where they make their money and they are relatively straight forward.
As a life long NHS worker I am appalled that so many feel forced to the private sector for the more routine stuff because they know the wait in the NHS is too long. My DC requires a easy money making smallish surgical procedure the wait just to see the consultant is 15+ months then he has to go on the waiting list 18 -24 month. He is young and has a chronic condition which although not life threatening is affecting his ability to work. So we will against my every principle pay, when I told colleagues they seem genuinely surprised even the consultant who work in the speciality he needs to see. I live in deepest rural Scotland most people hill farm or work in the tourist industry so wages around here are low so there are no private hospitals for 100 miles so maybe thats why people are surprised. certainly his GP didn't ask him if he wanted to go private or NHS.

PlainJaneEyre · 11/04/2022 11:50

If people pay for their treatment as opposed to using the NHS then that is one burden off the system. Some people do have insurance as per their job or private payment and some will pay for a one off investigation then revert back into the NHS. I have done the latter as paying for insurance was just too expensive and paying for an MRI gave me a jump start. These are the facts about health today plus there is a huge backlog of cases left over from Covid. I think doctors like vets and dentists always check this .It's normal.

Doggirl · 11/04/2022 11:52

Not all self-employed people but a number have it as it makes sense for them.

DF went this route, in 2000 and 2006, for hip replacements. His job involved walking, so (leaving aside pain etc.) if he couldn't walk, he couldn't earn. If he couldn't earn, then given (AFAIK) there was no unemployment relief for SE, he couldn't have paid the mortgage and would have been on the breadline. I don't suppose any of the people fulminating against private insurance would have been offering to pay his bills.

Darkstar4855 · 11/04/2022 11:56

I don’t think it’s anything new tbh. When I needed to see a knee specialist in 2006 I was encouraged by the GP to go private for the first appointment as the waiting lists in Wales were so long.

SheWasNuts · 11/04/2022 11:56

22 years ago (I remember because DC1 wasn't yet crawling & I had to do a nappy change) I was around at a colleague's house chatting about her cancer diagnosis. Colleague was a secretary, no huge income. Colleague was unhappy because she & husband were quite Labour voting but had gone private (with an NHS consultant) for assessment to fast track her assessment/earliest possible diagnosis. So it was well-established thing in 2000, too, leapfrogging into the system like that.

PILs always had modest means then MIL very unexpectedly inherited +100k. Am pretty sure that soon after that FIL had a hip replacement done privately in 2001 -- he had stubbornly refused to acknowledge his increasing hip problems until he was almost housebound, never even tried to get on an NHS list.

Gwenhwyfar · 11/04/2022 11:57

"It works because the doctors concerned are usually seeing private patients outside their contracted NHS hours. Simple as that, it has no impact on how many NHS patients they see."

As long as they are full time for the NHS I suppose.

itsjustnotok · 11/04/2022 11:58

OP why are you letting a basic question make you feel forced? It’s your right to chose whichever and let’s face it do they really know your finances or insurances? I have an insurance i forgot about and if they hadn’t of asked I would have been paying it for nothing.

SucculentChalice · 11/04/2022 12:03

@Gwenhwyfar

"It works because the doctors concerned are usually seeing private patients outside their contracted NHS hours. Simple as that, it has no impact on how many NHS patients they see."

As long as they are full time for the NHS I suppose.

It doesn't "work" for anyone except the consultants themselves, and I'm pretty sure that a Friday is a normal working day in the NHS. Which is when I was seen privately in an NHS hospital last week by a consultant who also works in the NHS.
privateandnhsgp · 11/04/2022 12:12

I ask as standard (private or NHS) when doing referrals.

Local referrals now usually go on a form designed by the target secondary care department whereas private referrals are dictated and it's a waste of time if I end up having to do both.

Overthebow · 11/04/2022 12:14

I have health insurance through work. I’m never too sure what to use if for, so would be glad for my GP to ask this so I would know when it would be beneficial to use the private insurance instead of NHS.

Keepup8113 · 11/04/2022 12:14

Have you ever utilised private health insurance in the past?

The GP was absolutely correct to ask.

So many jobs include private health cover. Even when I was on £21k a year - I had private

privateandnhsgp · 11/04/2022 12:15

Just because it's a Friday it doesn't mean that that particular clinician works Friday as part of their job plan.

So yes, it was outside of their contacted NHS hours, which is what the post you quoted said.

EmbarrassingHadrosaurus · 11/04/2022 12:15

Friday is a normal working day in the NHS. Which is when I was seen privately in an NHS hospital last week by a consultant who also works in the NHS.

Colleague is a surgeon who does 12hrs+ per shift. It's wouldn't be tricky hard for him to do a full time NHS week and notionally do private work on a weekday (he doesn't but he definitely could).

Trulyweird1 · 11/04/2022 12:17

@Andouillette

So sorry to hear of your friend , and your DD. Wishing both, better health.💐

Patchbatch · 11/04/2022 12:19

It doesn't "work" for anyone except the consultants themselves, and I'm pretty sure that a Friday is a normal working day in the NHS. Which is when I was seen privately in an NHS hospital last week by a consultant who also works in the NHS.

Every day of the week is a normal working day, as is any time of day. Most consultants don't work office hours, and even if they did and the one you saw works part time, so what- if the conditions in the NHS were better perhaps they'd work full time there.

undersleptagain · 11/04/2022 12:19

My GP asked me if I wanted to go private when I was due to have surgery. I told him I didn’t believe in private medicine. I had my operation on the NHS the next week so I don’t know why he asked me that.

needmorethanthis · 11/04/2022 12:21

I’d go private for anything possibly serious these days,

janj2301 · 11/04/2022 12:24

My daughter was born 40 years ago with a heart defected corrected by surgery at 4 months. I had privte health care then and mentioned it to the consultant thinking he'd tell me off, no he was really happy, he had a set budget and treating her privately left money in the pot for other heart babies. I now work for a GP, most waing times for referrals are 12 months lots of our patients will pay out of their own pocket for an initial private consultation

Pyewhacket · 11/04/2022 12:25

Odd question given that medical insurance doesn't cover chronic conditions generally.

Exactly Hmm

Andouillette · 11/04/2022 12:28

@SucculentChalice
"It doesn't "work" for anyone except the consultants themselves, and I'm pretty sure that a Friday is a normal working day in the NHS. Which is when I was seen privately in an NHS hospital last week by a consultant who also works in the NHS."
I have looked into this fairly extensively for my own interest. As far as I can tell 'full time' for NHS consultants is reckoned to be 4 full days consisting of 8 sessions, so yes, they could be free on a Friday. In some specialties they will also be rota'ed on for some weekend coverage (trauma, OB etc.).

Andouillette · 11/04/2022 12:29

[quote Trulyweird1]@Andouillette

So sorry to hear of your friend , and your DD. Wishing both, better health.💐[/quote]
Thank you @Trulyweird1 much appreciated.