Private healthcare - am I doing the right thing?

[RedPandaFluff]

Today is the last day of my cooling-off period for a Vitality health policy I took out two weeks ago. It covers me, DH and DD (almost 9 months old) for £140 a month. This is a lot, but we can afford it, if we sacrifice a couple of luxuries (a couple of takeaways, I'll stop hitting "Buy Now" quite so hastily on Amazon etc.)

Am I doing the right thing by continuing this policy? A couple of things I'm worried about are how high the premiums can get (there's nothing to stop them increasing these each year, although I guess I can just cancel if it gets really excessive) and whether the £1600+ I'm spending on this every year would be better put in our savings pot.

Any opinions or advice would be appreciated!

used to but is not 100% private =now.

I definitely would have it. My mum was a nurse for over 40 years both private and NHS. She said if you were ever really in trouble, the NHS are the most qualified to help, however there have been quite a few bits I've had to lean on my private Heath are for - fibroid removal (three operations), severe skin allergies, suspect mole check and my son had to have a small operation too.

None of these issues were life threatening but having them dealt with in a week or two rather than waiting months for an appointment really helps with your mental well being.

@JinglingHellsBells With respect I make no error. Though you are correct in saying that some work in private practice only, considerably more work across both NHS and private. As such delivery of private healthcare has been affected, as per the BMA statement linked. To clarify, it is resources, as well as staff, thus my initial point to the OP. A private only consultant is not an island.

Imo insurers should give clarity surrounding this otherwise they are arguably profiteering as people (as in this thread) will assume that private will be there to bypass the NHS when it is facing challenging times. This is not necessarily the case. However hopefully things will revert to a semblance of normal, and are doing so, but we cannot say with any surety what lies ahead and an precedent in terms of pulling resources has been set.

OP, whether the policy is useless depends on how you plan to use it and what happens going forward.

@rottiemum88 - what makes you say that? And who are the better ones and why? Thanks!

@JinglingHellsBells and @EnoughAlready2020 - reducing wait times is definitely a priority. I think I'd struggle to wait if DD needed treatment for something; I'd find it very difficult.

@RedPandaFluff it depends on your main concerns for your cover.
DH and I have a compromise in that we have health cash plans ,his is with work so heavily discounted so it's about £22 a month for both of us. So we have cover for private physio and gp and it will cover one consultant appointment a year and a couple of dentist check ups and a few other things. DH has gotten private video gp appointments during covid on the same day which has been very helpful.

I don’t understand the point really. The only thing I pay for is therapy which costs less than your premium.

@ilovethesmellofthesea

I've had private healthcare for the past 10 years. I think it's amazing - I can get a same day appointment with my GP or next day or any day of my choosing, referrals are super fast, I had a funny smear and had a super fast referral and was monitored every 3 months by the consultant until my funny cells started resolving themselves. I also had lots of sessions with a psychologist. I'm now pregnant and have private maternity care which has been amazing - scans at 6, 8, 10, 12 weeks so far. I absolutely think it's worth it - you never know what's going to happen but it's just peace of mind. The NHS has huge demands on it - I think being able to bypass the long waits and have care that doesn't factor in the cost of treatments/procedures is something worth having.

I don’t get this at all. I can get a same day appointment with my NHS GP if I actually need one. And I don’t think doing loads of scans automatically means it’s better.

So I have worked in both private and nhs hospitals. Most recently in nhs hospital where we "took over" the local private hospitals for additional ward space (whether it was needed or not is another story) including all their imaging services, physio services and nurses and medics.

As @FallingIguanas rightly says the vast majority of doctors working in private hospitals work in the NHS primarily (generally they have to do 0.9 WTE in the NHS to be allowed (by their trust) to work privately. Though some do retire from the NHS and work privately only, this is a small amount and often (but not exclusively) the older docs. There's a bit of a saying that any (pre retirement age) doctor that only works privately is not worth trusting as the NHS has higher thresholds and standards that the practices have to meet/there are numerous other specialists around that can call out dodgey behaviour.

To the point about "specialisms" not being needed during covid. In my trust all the ophthalmologists were redeployed onto medicine wards and acted like junior doctors, anaesthetists worked in ICU, orthopaedic surgeons redeployed to A&E and again worked as ward docs etc etc. At one point half of my doctors were off sick or isolating (I manage medicine) so we had other specialisms stepping in to help.

Now things are easing up, private hospitals are now seeing some of their private patients again but most have a hefty contract with the trusts to help get on top of waiting lists. So your private wait might be longer than expected.

So all this isn't really helping the OPs point about should I go private - it's just explaining what's happened to private care during and post lock down.

In my experience of working in the private hospital - private patients get a nicer meal option and salt and pepper shakers instead of sachets, a shorter waiting time, but will generally see the same doctor that they would have done on the NHS.
I wouldn't pay for policies, I'd save money to put in a pot and use in private treatment when it comes to it if needed.

@Ginfilledcats that’s a lot of money for a salt and pepper shaker...

Love your username!

With regards to keeping the policy on during Covid. A couple of weeks ago my GP advised that the NHS hospital had rejected his referral for me to see a breast consultant due to ongoing issues. My problems were not viewed as grave enough during this covid climate.

So I asked for a private referral. I don't have private health insurance but was prepared to pay whatever to stop the worry or get the issue identified. My GP did the referral and I contacted two private hospitals - I'm near a big city - and both said I could not have a face to face consultation with a breast consultant at present f
due to covid but could have a phone consultation for £180. If I then needed scans these could not be arranged as thet had no radiographers.

Be aware that you cannot always buy your way into healthcare as I thought I could.

@Nattsalie

With regards to keeping the policy on during Covid. A couple of weeks ago my GP advised that the NHS hospital had rejected his referral for me to see a breast consultant due to ongoing issues. My problems were not viewed as grave enough during this covid climate.

So I asked for a private referral. I don't have private health insurance but was prepared to pay whatever to stop the worry or get the issue identified. My GP did the referral and I contacted two private hospitals - I'm near a big city - and both said I could not have a face to face consultation with a breast consultant at present f
due to covid but could have a phone consultation for £180. If I then needed scans these could not be arranged as thet had no radiographers.

Be aware that you cannot always buy your way into healthcare as I thought I could.

That is ridiculous and you should complain to your local CCG.

What are your expectations of private care?

Most will require you to be referred by your GP, so if it doesn't cover GP appointments, only secondary care, you'll have to wait for a GP appointment like everyone else.

Most policies follow similar clinical guidance than the nhs, so for instance, my SIL had to get drug treatment, physio before she could get surgery on her shoulder.

Most will also the same guidelines in terms of cancer treatment so you are unlikely to be approve for expensive treatment not available on the nhs. Although there might some few exceptions.

You often have to transfer back to the nhs as the private hospital doesn't the expertise or equipment to undertake the surgery or again, you might not be covered for that procedure. You used to be able to 'jump the queue', it is now much less likely.

Many will not fund what they deem 'cosmetic surgery' ie varicose veins, so look closely at what it covers.

You also have to consider emergency complications as most do not have ICU, so require to be transferred to the closest NHS hospital, adding risks during transfer.

Private treatment is good if what you are looking for is quicker diagnostic imaging, and outpatient appointment, and possibly non urgent surgery.

I personally think you gain more by understanding the NHS, for instance knowing that you can ask to go to any NHS hospital in England, regularly asking where you are on the pathway, and able to speak to the secretary and establishing a good relationship for your GP learning about whatever condition you may suffer from so you can ensure they are following the clinical recommendations and referral process as they should.

Yes, @FallingIguanas and @Ginfilledcats are correct, the vast majority of consultants work within the NHS with some private work alongside, the percentage of which depends on their NHS contract. When DH went private, I chose him a consultant who worked in the NHS. It's easy to spot people who have worked in the NHS on this thread

The comment about consultants being 'specialists' and therefore not being deployed elsewhere within the NHS during covid, is incorrect.

Going back to the OP, for anything major, I'd always go to the NHS. For more minor stuff, investigations and routine elective surgery, the private sector is fine. But I would rather pay for that kind of stuff as and when it arises. I always think of one trust I worked in for years, which had 5 anaesthetists available overnight. The private hospital I worked at had 1 RMO. If I had an arrest, I know who I'd want to resuscitate me.

Most will require you to be referred by your GP, so if it doesn't cover GP appointments, only secondary care, you'll have to wait for a GP appointment like everyone else

Not necessarily. I just phone my GP and ask for a letter, they rarely need to see you, and this was before Covid.

I think private healthcare is worth every penny if you need it. I don't agree with some of the points above. In my experience, private care has been in another league to NHS. Some of it is the speed of appointments, some of it is the fact that it's not disjointed and a 3 hour NHS appointment compared to 30 minutes in and out privately and having the time with the doctor which isn't limited.

My husband died of cancer recently. His care was on another level privately. Yes, he saw the same consultant he would have seen on the NHS but he only saw the consultant, not a registrar, he got to know him well. Most importantly by being a private patient, his life was significantly extended because privately there generally IS wider access to drugs. He had several treatments, all covered privately which the NHS wouldn't even have entertained. Most of these were standard in other countries but denied here on cost grounds. There are MANY treatments which are standard privately but either not offered on the NHS or are a battle to get. Another example of this is Avastin for Bowel cancer, almost always standard privately and proven to help many patients, often needing to be self funded if NHS. This alone is reason for me to have private health. Generally the NHS deals well with standard cancers, as soon as it's something less common then they'll often not even both to treat which is exactly what happened to my husband at his NHS appointment.

I had breast cancer surgery done privately through health insurance. It made no difference with regard to the surgery, the treatment or to the timescale involved but it did provide me with my own room with en-suite shower so no worries about flashing my bum whilst still in theatre gown when going to the loo. Also
I had very nice sandwiches on a doilie with a pot of earl grey post op.

@FallingIguanas And with respect to you too, what I said was also right.
(There was no need for you to ask if I worked in healthcare to be aware of the situation- that's a bit patronising.) I didn't ask you the same, did I?

What I do know is that members of my family have been treated for very serious illness during Covid , during lockdown, with private care. These were outpatient appts at specialist centres.

And, it still stands that many drs were not recruited into the NHS during Covid. The fact was that NHS hospitals were not operating at capacity during Covid, some were only 20% full, and NONE of the private hospitals had their facilities used for Covid. In fact all the Nightingale hospitals stood totally empty.

Consultants' workload whether NHS/ private varies. The ones we were dealing with were mainly working in the private sector and were very experienced drs who had reduced NHS work.

@RedPandaFluff

Some of the posts here have gone off topic a bit so if you want to ask anything please do- I've used the private sector for 35+ years and can pretty much answer most points (I hope!)

@dontdisturbmenow Many of the points you make above are incorrect. No time to address them all, but you are looking at worse case scenarios with a lot of points and others are just incorrect.

You often have to transfer back to the nhs as the private hospital doesn't the expertise or equipment to undertake the surgery or again, you might not be covered for that procedure. You used to be able to 'jump the queue', it is now much less likely.

This is all wrong. You choose a hospital that does have the expertise- it's your choice.

Most will also the same guidelines in terms of cancer treatment so you are unlikely to be approve for expensive treatment not available on the nhs. Although there might some few exceptions.

Untrue. if you choose the right policy it will cover all treatments for cancer.

You also have to consider emergency complications as most do not have ICU, so require to be transferred to the closest NHS hospital, adding risks during transfer.

The best private hospitals have ICU and some have easy access to ICU anyway if they are attached to a large hospital- ie Lindo Wing in London.

NONE of the private hospitals had their facilities used for Covid.

That was only one of the five purposes that private hospitals were procured for. Fortunately, they weren't needed for that purpose. Our local private hospital has, for example, been undertaking urgent NHS care as a covid free hub.

I actually work in providing private medical insurance to large corporate companies. I would say you are more likely cheaper getting this through your employer if they offer it and providing you work for a large company.

Personally, I have used mine to claim for NHS cash benefit. When I was pregnant I was admitted for investigations for coughing up blood. My husband however has used this for multiple things from counselling to mri's on his head. The real benefit to me, is if u r very concerned about something you will be seen so much quicker than NHS. Example of this is my husband needed an MRI on his head. NHS would have taken around 12 weeks for an appt, privately we phoned had an appointment within 3 days and the MRI and results were in within a week. Also, I know it's a horrible subject and a bit controversial but there are cancer drugs you can get privately that you can't on NHS. There is definately pros and cons as it is expensive and you can guarantee a spike in ur premiums if you claim. I would say if u can't get it through your employer and you are in good health, personally I wouldn't pay for it but it really depends on the individual. Hope this helps

We have it with Vitality too, through work though so haven’t had to make the decision

It was really good with dd when we needed a surgeon and we had access to the top one quite quickly. We would have got access to equally good one in NHS but it wasn’t urgent and wait was long.

In the end it changed to becoming more urgent and I was so relieved to have that

Btw this same surgeon did do more NHS recently according to secretary, that was back in April though

Before that we’d never used it, for however many years.

I have private care through work.

I always ask my GP if going private would make a difference. Sometimes it's does and sometimes it doesn't.

However, for consultations I have found I get 30 mins of their time which is way more than I ever get going through the NHS. I never have to wait more than a few days for diagnostic tests and typically they have all been arranged on the same day. Results are through quickly and again I have a lengthy consultation to discuss them.

I think it is definitely worth it if you can afford it.

I have also paid privately for things not covered by my private insurance. I got a consultation and resulting operation within a month when the NHS waiting list was up to 18 months for a consultation. And guaranteed to have your own room when in hospital is worth every penny.

One other thing is, after they screwed up t&cs and I had to show we were covered according to their own t&cs, is read them. So bloody stressful at the time and I was right!

There’s different levels of hospitals you have access to, and consultants and quite a few exclusions. It taught me to be very particular about insurance.