Private hospital charges for cleaning equipment?

[Whathefisgoingon]

I recently had a private consultation with an ENT consultant, they recommended a naseondoscopy (camera in the nose and down the throat) which I know is actually included in the consultation price with many consultants. They said there would be a hospital charge of around £100.

I’ve since paid the consultation invoice which also included an additional charge of £100 for the naseondoscopy, and I have now been separately invoiced an additional £120 from the clinic for the naseondoscopy. When I queried this with the consultants secretary they said it is a cleaning charge.

This seems excessive to me, don’t you think?

They can charge what they like but you were told and agreed to the cost at your consultation. I would query if it has been accidentally double charged. Either £100 or £120 would fit into my comfort zone for “around £100” but £220 does not.

Welcome to a world without the nhs

Whether charging you is reasonable or not, depends on whether you were accurately informed and agreed to the charge beforehand....

As for the cost - I'm afraid healthcare is expensive, and not necessarily in the ways that you'd expect. £120 may seem excessive, but if you were told that the difference between £80 and £120 was the difference between being reasonably sure and 100% sure that every potential contaminant from the previous patient had been removed.

Healthcare is like space travel, or the airline industry incredibly costly and high risk if corners are cut, so expensive to do properly. I'm not sure many people would take the 'bargain basement' option if it was a choice, knowing the outcomes may be worse, although many may have to make those sorts of choices in the near future.

I’ve used private healthcare many times, but this is the first time I’m irked.

When the consultant suggested the procedure he said there would be a hospital charge, I asked if he knew rough cost and he said around £100. I was absolutely fine with this, as I thought that was the total cost for the procedure on top of the consult, I didn’t expect it to be £120 hospital charge on top of the £100 consultant charge.

U have obviously misunderstood, next time be careful to clarify total costs.