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.

I think this is accurate - their ‘triage’ Will happen at home for the most part - the worst part of A&E is having something serious enough that you can’t leave but not serious enough to be seen instantly.

So waiting for scans and x-rays to confirm
broken limbs, waiting for stitches for a non life threatening wound etc.

All of that can be done by doctors who come to them including mobile X-ray machines.

I have heard they do get a private room ASAP and everyone is very hush hush about it, mainly because people waiting in A&E are extremely bored and would be crowding around to try and get a glimpse/picture, which is disruptive as well as compromising the VIP's privacy.

If they are very famous then they also don't want paparrazi swarming the hospital, which would probably happen very quickly the minute someone shared their photo on social media.

They don't necessarily skip the queue or get seen quicker because of being seen as "better" but of course they also don't want them clogging up a private room for longer than necessary either, and the longer they are at the hospital the more chance someone leaks the info and they get crowds of people trying to see. So avoiding that is a priority.

It might also be a insurance clause for a film set/TV show and for some sports people that must attend A&E after an injury. I don't know the details, but when I worked in A&E, it was generally urgent issues that came in for famous people. Not ongoing heath concerns that could be seen by a private Dr and referred on. Some of things I saw with famous people/celebrities/sports people:

-Sports injuries such as football/tennis/rugby
-Miscarriage
-Stroke
-Drug overdose
-Broken limbs/fingers from certain TV shows

Bupa has a private urgent care center at Cromwell Hospital but it's adults only. For children, even if seen by a private GP immediately it's almost always - still have to go to A&E. The Portland Hospital is the only one in London with a private A&E for children.

It would depend on the nature of the emergency. If it's something that can be treated by a paid-for private doctor then that's what would happen, but private hospitals don't have A&E departments and not everything can be bought that way. It definitely is not the case that they would "skip the queue" but the long waits at A&E are for people who have been triaged as non-urgent so the longer the NHS wait would be, the more likely it is to be something a private Dr can do. If it's something that has to be done with NHS resources the time they get the treatment would still be prioritised by clinical need not fame or wealth. However, someone with a sufficiently elevated public profile that they might be at risk in a public A&E waiting room would be given a separate area to wait in for their own safety.

Prince Philip went to the private King Edward vii hospital, but was later transferred to Barts, which i think is generally and NHS hospital, not sure if it has any private bits. He also went to Papworth, which is NHS.

I don’t know when it was, so whether he went to Papworth Hospital (in Papworth) or Royal Papworth (new name when the hospital moved next to Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge) but I imagine there were private sections of Papworth as there are in Royal Papworth .

"Then transport is arranged after we have patched them up to which ever private hospital they are going to. So if they need ortho, they are getting that much quicker, but they wouldnt be seeing that NHS specialist, they have access to their own. We just give that initial stabilising treatment. So yes, they skip queues, but they are not necessarily getting faster treatments or investigations via NHS services. Their bloods, CT's. xrays etc take the same amount of time as everyone else."
That isn't across every NHS hospital. I think people would be disgusted to know that some footballers are treated as a VIP via the NHS. It's a strange situation but some non British players don't always go private. You'd think that they'd have to have insurance via the club, or special arrangements, but they don't for some health conditions (not sprains etc obviously).

If these ‘non-British’ players are playing for a UK team, they will be ordinarily resident in the UK so entitled to free treatment on the NHS. And probably contributing more in tax in one season than some UK residents will pay in a lifetime.

I worked at billing at BT years ago, and they had a VIP section. Dealt with them differently.
Test and Trace had different protocols and staff for VIP’s

And I’m sure a retail company many years ago did.

Preferential treatment everywhere

When COP came to Glasgow a few years ago my workplace had a visit from US officials who were sorting out security etc for Joe Biden. We had to show them where he would be seen (resus) how to get to X-Ray & CT etc. A plan was made for how his privacy & security would be maintained.
We have had a few minor celebrities/ local
politicians over the years but no royalty or major celebs.

There are definitely some options in London although might not work in every instance.

The Cleveland Clinic in London has a referral only acute admissions unit where they treat even the most serious emergencies, but you have to be referred by a doctor. Not remotely a celeb, but my GP referred us there and they were able to diagnose and then perform a very complicated emergency surgery immediately.

One of the DC had been unwell, woke up in the morning and just didn't seem right. We took them to Princess Grace walk-in where they were diagnosed with sepsis, admitted immediately and treated there.

Broken hand (DC playing cricket) St John & Eliz walk in.

You’re lucky. Our recent experience was a five hour ambulance weight for 80 year old with serious head injury than another four hour wait outside Scottish hospital in ambulance then 8 hours on a trolley. Unsurprisingly perhaps he died within days.

Our works’ private health benefits - GP appointments are direct billed, so there’s nothing to pay upfront.

If further tests or treatment are needed, these must be approved in advance. For example, a specialist might recommend a colonoscopy, which may be approved, but an endoscopy at the same time may not be.

Some treatments have annual limits, such as physiotherapy (usually up to 24 sessions).

You can speak to a doctor 24/7 by phone, and they can arrange referrals, treatments, or appointments for you. You can also ask to be treated at a centre of excellence.

Sorry haven’t RTFT but yes there are such private A&E centres in London. I have used them a few times, although not for a few years now as we don’t live there any more.

They used to cost about £100 or so for an appointment and you’d get seen within one hour (sometimes as little as 10 minutes). In most cases that appointment was enough but occasionally they’d refer you for xray or a specialist elsewhere in the hospital which would be an additional charge. I should stress that they didn’t deal with major life threatening emergencies - things like GSWs or heart attacks. But it was great for stuff like broken wrists or bad cuts that needed stitching. Also I took DS once when he had a serious chest infection and we were being fobbed off by the GP, and the A&E saw him straight away and gave him antibiotics.

As I recall one of them was at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in St John’s Wood, and there was another one, which I was less keen on, at Princess Grace on Marylebone Road.

Not true. Had a very famous wealthy rugby player in my A&E and he waited like everyone else.

If you have a condition that can sit waiting, then it likely can be handled by a private physician willing to see patients outside of regular hours. They exist if you pay enough. ( I’m not wealthy, but I’m well enough off that I’ve been getting very tempted to put one on retainer given the state of my health). Perhaps they won’t have access to all equipment, but if that is needed, the initial triage is complete and phone calls can be made.

Acute major trauma anyone goes to closest AE regardless of their position.Thats where the best/safest emergency care is .

There’s private A&E’s/urgent care in London and there is one just opened by the QEH in Birmingham. Can go be seen, have your imaging, see consultant, get your diagnosis all in one appointment. You just have to pay

There are also loads of private GPs now as well

Well that depends how ill they are
They can't just prioritise a celebrities sprained wrist over some non celebrity, having a Cardiac arrest.

But the cardiac arrest wouldn't be waiting in the waiting room with us.

There’s loads in London. Princess Grace, Cromwell, St John and Elizabeth, the Wellington. Probably loads more. I think they would be fine for serious infections but not sure you’d want to go if you needed surgery as I imagine the cost would be huge and not sure if private healthcare would cover that (even if you were v wealthy!).

I have private medical care but would still have to go to A&E. It only really helps for queue jumping routine stuff.that is referred.

Insurance did cover the surgery at the Cleveland Clinic

Boris went to his nearest NHS hospital. No specialist treatment.