Would you prefer a job with private healthcare offered

[justasking111]

Say there were similar jobs going you applied and got two offers. Would you take the one that had a private healthcare package.

YABU the government need to provide free healthcare at point of need

YANBU I am concerned enough to take advantage of private health care to take the job for peace of mind it brings

NHS consultants are not allowed to do private work in their NHS time - I can’t see making those who can pay for private treatment resulting in much of a difference in NHS capacity. If more people pay for private treatment - I can see consultants being incentivised to spend less time in the NHS though…
There is no way I would want to be on a generic private ward after major surgery - be it in a fully private hospital or in a NHS hospital

Those people probably pay a lot more taxes as well so should also have the right to use the NHS when needed!

I use the service most relevant to my needs at the time and I won’t apologise for that.

Would this work though? Every doctor I’ve ever seen at a private hospital has worked in an NHS one too. If there’s more demand privately, then would they just further reduce their NHS clinics?
Additionally, demand for private appointments has soared over the last year. I saw my neurologist a few weeks ago, and he apologised for the length of time it had taken to fit me in, he’s booked up 2 months in advance at the private hospital now. A year ago it was 2 weeks.

I’m just trying to picture how it would all play out. It just seems like there’s a finite number of clinical hours, regardless of how that’s split between NHS & private.

Is the benefit just the money put into the health system?

So if more pay NI and for private, by paying twice it means overall amount is higher

Some countries attract private payment by giving tax rebates

But as with a lot of what other systems do I don’t think it would go down well here with voters

Would your client be interested though. £25 is a lot, per year. Who is off sick and why? Some may not even need to see a doctor to self certify. Wouldn't it be cheaper to just pay for an employee to be seen by someone, a doctor, if need be? Our company paid for an employee to be seen. The cost was minimal compared to what you are suggesting. The private doctors report was sent to the GP and then the NHS referral was thus speeded up. Cheaper than what you are suggesting.

Might be labour but their budget comes from Westminster !!

Always. I don’t understand why anyone chooses to use the NHS when they have private cover. Other than occasional GP appointments a couple of NHS A&E trips I always use our cover. Quick, efficent, non rushed, choose your specialist, always see the same person, no waiting for scans results or treatment and often procedures and drugs nhs won’t pay for.

Well our Welsh health board is being investigated they've mislaid £124 million in the last financial year. I'm sure Westminster are impressed (not)

My dhs job offers private healthcare and the family get it after 5 years. It’s not an absolute as I’ve only used it a few times, but that was over covid when hospitals weren’t offering appointments.

If an employer takes part in a private healthcare scheme. I don't see why voters should be annoyed. It's like a mileage allowance for travel I'd have thought.

If all else was equal I'd think it was a no brainer to go for the one with private healthcare. I didn't vote though as I don't believe they're mutually exclusive and the gov should provide healthcare too.

But private often covers many things NHS doesn't and avoids sometimes lengthy queues.

I wonder if NHS staff would benefit from a private healthcare scheme. Their sickness rates in Wales are alarming. They're dealing with infectious sick people daily. Nurses I know have back, shoulder, hip and knee issues. Wear and tear of the job.

Ok so you are either a Tory Bot or some poor sap intern whose job it is to promote private healthcare this evening... did mum and dad pay a HUGE amount to get you the job at central office ?

Mixed bag on private healthcare. Good in some. Shit at others. I work for the NHS and my husband has private health care and sees a GP privately just for context. He's happy with the device, blood pressure checks, has a nice chat. You get the picture.

on the other hand. The service I work in has had referrals for wound care ie stitches removal following surgery. (Yes this has fallen on NHS nursing staff) People have had tumours removed but no follow up care ie pain medication, anti sickness, referral to local palliative care specialist nurses who can arrange the special mattresses, medications etc. no wonder everything is falling to the GP!

I meant the tax rebate part. People can pay twice but no rebate currently.

Although maybe not employer related so not relevant

It is a mixed bag. I've had two friends needing specialist surgery our region of Wales can't provide. So they've been shipped to England. Both had post operative infections which our local hospital had to treat and home visits. All NHS care.

Before anyone shouts Wales do pay the English hospitals for these operations.

No one is asking you to “apologise” for anything. You’re doing exactly what I’ve said I think is a great thing to do and yet you’ve somehow decided that I’ve offended you…

I think it makes a lot of sense for employers to offer it so they get people back quicker. I can only see it becoming more common. Nowhere I’ve worked has ordered it though, but I’d jump at it.

We cancelled our family plan recently. £1,500 BIK meant higher rate tax charge of £600 odd a year. We'd had it ten years and never used it. I know you can't know the future but right now cash flow is more important.

Most private healthcare offers go service now, albeit by phone or online and they can refer to your private scheme. It’s 24 hours as well. It’s a massively differentiator in employment imo… which I hope you will not need but if you do you will never regret taking the employment that offered if

My very healthy young colleague aged 32 became unwell, breathless, was treated for asthma. Collapsed one day. Employer private healthcare scheme kicked in a battery of tests. Cardiomyopathy . Such a shock. But she's still here. She won't be changing jobs now she said.

A friend and I both injured our backs very badly last year, coincidentally within a couple of weeks of each other. I have private healthcare, she doesn't.

I had ten weeks of physio, a consultation with an orthopaedic surgeon when the physio didn't help, MRI, follow up consultation, surgery and two post-surgery appointments before she was even imaged. Despite her pain interfering badly with her day to day life, from the eventual MRI she was deemed not bad enough to need any intervention other than painkillers and a referral to a pain clinic which eventually turned out to have been "lost" and she's being re-referred. She's had lengthy periods off work, is having more and more frequent flare ups that make her collapse, and I suspect has developed a painkiller addiction. I've recovered fully.

It actually frightens me to think of where I'd be now if it wasn't for private healthcare, and I wouldn't consider a job that didn't offer it or pay enough that I could afford it myself.

I'm a massive user of private healthcare (only use the NHS for true emergencies). I would not consider a job without - in 2022 I had two cancer scares, was put on the NHS 2 weeks cancer pathways but I got home from the GP, saw the consultant two days later (on a Saturday) and had the procedure there and then. When you have a scare you want to see a specialist ASAP and normally for me it's been a matter of days rather than weeks or months. OP, take the job with private health insurance, that's my advice