A&E and the wealthy

[GirlWednesday]

I was curious about whether there are private drop-in centres or A&E in the UK for people who can afford private health care. Apparently there aren’t.

AIBU to think this makes no sense? If someone very famous such as a member of the royal family, a famous actor or singer, or a high profile politician needed to visit a drop-in centre, I can’t imagine they’d be sat in a grotty NHS waiting room for hours with the general public? Or do they have doctors they can call directly to provide home visits if they need to see someone?

Probably not really a true AIBU but I wasn’t sure where else to post this.

The royal family have their own doctor{s} and nurse{s}

How? I don't recall a pre-triage triage that involved showing a bank balance.

They usually bypass ED and receive care on a ward / in an assessment area. Not in their interest, or that of the hospital to have a media pile on in ED.

St John and St Elizabeth's own website tells you it only has an Urgent Care Centre and to go to a NHS A+E for anything lifethreatening.

From my experience as an NHS doctor working in an area with a high percentage of celebs/super-rich there are a few things that just aren't replicated in the UK by the private sector. A+E for serious emergencies is one of them, so you end up with royals/film stars in A+E. Another is community care such as district nursing or palliative care at home.

The majority of private hospitals in the UK will ship you out to the NHS if you are too sick. In London however there are a few that have 'everything'. My patients would take themselves to Urgent Care at the Cromwell Hospital and get themselves admitted there. However they don't have ambulances on call - you had to get yourself there.

There are in Ireland. In Dublin there’s 3 private hospitals that have an A&E. I know they don’t open 24hrs (the hermitage I believe is from 8am until 6pm). They also don’t deal with strokes or anything neurological but they do have cardiac care for suspected heart attacks.

Anyone can access them but obviously it’s very expensive if you don’t have health insurance. If you do have health insurance I think the maximum charge is about €600 on the day dependent on tests and what your insurance policy covers. I’ve used it before. Seen within an hour by a doctor and referred onto a consultant in the hospital with an app two weeks later.

The previous Duke of Westminster died at a local hospital.

He had the same treatment as everyone else, maybe extra privacy.

Everyone who treated him said he was a completely normal and lovely person.

Yes and Sophie was rushed to nhs hospital to give birth to first child.

I’ve worked in an and e when someone famous comes in, it’s amazing how much space can be made when the managers are given the heads up. This was a few years ago though. Trust me they get treated differently and are whizzed though the process.

Private hospitals dont do accident/emergency care

Next time I need to go to hospital, I’m gonna phone up ahead and tell them I’m Heidi Klum
The resemblance is uncanny. I think I can pull that off.

We love the Portland. It was £170 last week. It's worth it for efficient and very careful care. We are certainly not rich - am a teacher! But we choose to spend on that. Obviously private goes up to a certain level of urgency but if above I hope the NHS will be ok. But that's a hope. I don't trust the NHS.

Yes, private hospitals don't have A and E depts and nor are they equipped to deal with emergencies when routine things go wrong (unless it's the RF or Saudi princes, I think). If you remember, the DofE was operated on at Bart's when he needed emergency and very complicated heart surgery. He was taken back to his private hospital afterwards.
I am happy that the wealthy also use the NHS - it stops them moaning about having to pay for it (which is the point - it's for everyone, even QEII if necessary, though she would have got a private room with guards and private everything else, of course).

Princess Grace do urgent care, but not emergency care. If you're in a life or death situation you'd need to go to an NHS A&E.

It’s Urgent Care rather than A&E so for minor illnesses / injuries.

A&E is the most expensive department in a hospital, so you aren't going to get private ones. It wouldn't make any money for whoever ran it.

I saw a specialist at the Cromwell in 2005. The consultant referred me to the private wing of Kings College Hospital for tests. He said he would normally pass people to the NHS for the tests, but that since he was about to retire from the NHS that wasn't possible, so I paid for the tests. I was also persuaded to have a consultation with another specialist in a neighbouring room, which seemed pointless (were they lining each others' pockets?) 'Passing people to the NHS' sounded like unfairly jumping the queue and, although I would have liked to save money on it, I would have felt guilty. I hadn't realised that went on. In the event, I did OK financially since I never got the consultant's bill, which would have amounted to £200 (2 consultations). I don't know if that was an admin error (his secretary was slapdash, given the typos in the letters) or a gesture of goodwill to offset my having had to pay for tests. When 2.5 yrs later, I asked my GP to refer me back to Kings to have one of the tests repeated, he referred me to Kings but on the NHS. Appointment quickly, the only difference being that instead of being given results as I left, they were sent to my GP. Much better.

M.Ps are wealthy, but get their own dedicated NHS A&E across the bridge.

the most serious cases are always going to be taken in ASAP no matter who they are. It is like that all over the world

An elderly lady I know has a very wealthy son. When she became ill a few months ago with extreme diarrhoea (I assume C Diff or possibly norovirus) her son called his private GP who arranged a private ambulance to take her to one of the private hospitals in London. She was treated with IVI & antibiotics plus when she was well enough lots of physio and occupational therapy to get her moving again. Just over a week later she was back home in great spirits, laughing that her consultant had told her she’d have died if she’d been left to the NHS. I told her that in the unlikely event an ambulance was prevailed upon to take her to hospital she’d have been dumped at the far end of a corridor and they’d probably just be discovering her body about then.
She’s on course to make 100 now. But she’d definitely have died without the prompt private care, which was nothing complicated, just best supportive care and great nursing care plus the physio.

Yes - I have no respect for Boris, or for what happened during Covid, but wasn't he in Guys/St Thomas when he was seriously ill with Covid? I'm sure getting very special treatment, but proving that where you need the medical staff and the kit that can keep you alive when critical, NHS facilities are where to go.

They would probably be taken into a private ward.

I have lived in the same city all of my 52 years and did not know until 3 months ago there is a private ward at our local NHS hospital. My FIL needed an urgent operation and paid privately but because he was high risk the surgeon performed the operation in the private wing of our local hospital (FIL had to pay private fees to both the surgeon and the NHS hospital).

I had worked at that hospital for 12 years and had no clue this existed until FILs op, apparently it's quite common in many NHS hospitals. Obviously these are not A&E departments but I can imagine high profile people are probably seen in similar wards.

I was in A&E in a public hospital when a man arrived by private helicopter. His pilot flew him from an event he was intending. For some things the large public hospitals are often better prepared for some types of emergency. I didn't get the impression that he got preferential treatment, but I don't know.

I remember once seeing a VIP politician with security in the staff-only area of a hospital. A nurse had opened the door for me to take a shortcut. I'm sure they have protocols for VIPs.

It's the same in Ireland.

Yes there are a few private A&E’s in private London hospitals.

Not that deal with genuine a&e cases (heart attacks, strokes etc)