Bupa wait times

[chocaholic38]

Does anyone have any experience with Bupa?
First time using them, had my treatment approved and telephoned one of the consultants they recommend. Have been given an appointment for November, can anyone say if that is a normal wait time?
Have now made the appointment so not sure if I’m able to telephone any of the others recommended to see if I can get seen sooner.

It totally depends what it’s for.

It’s a neurology appointment. My Gp referred me in September 2024 so might get that appointment before this one now.

If you're paying you can ring round and find another appointment and cancel the first appointment

In that case I think November sounds about right to be honest. I’m not sure if it’s because more people are now going private but the wait times for private healthcare have really increased.

In my experience I’ve been given a few names of consultants and then I rung their secretaries to arrange my own appointment. Sounds like you called one and settled for what they gave you? Try more numbers…

Ime a week or two for first appointment, even when dh saw a neurologist during pandemic. You might need to ring a few though, to see what their timescales are. Popular ones might have a limited caseload to manage,

The wait times really have shot up recently for private care, possibly due to more & more people using it.

During the pandemic my mum went private for a breast lump found, called & had appointment, all tests and results back not even 48 hours later. I had a similar scare myself a few weeks ago, NHS appointment was quite a wait so I called the same private hospital my mum went to and their first available appointment was 5 weeks time.

Thanks all, it’s the first time using Bupa, so wasn’t really sure how it worked. There is only the 3 in my area and after reading through some of the details I don’t think my policy covers cancelling appointments so will just need to go with the appointment booked. I just thought it would have been a quicker appointment. But at least I now know I have one.

Ring the other consultants in your area and ask them what their lead time is for an appointment and then ring BUPA and see if you can change it, if they can see you earlier. I’m with AXA and provided the consultant is on their recommended list you can see them.

It's not a BUPA wait time as such, it's the wait time for that individual private Dr. Bupa don't control that at all.

I know Bupa don’t control that, I just didn’t think there would be such a wait for an appointment going private. Have read people get appointments within a few weeks. Having looked at the other available neurologists in my area it seems they are all about the same time scale for appointments.

You can go with whoever you want within the BUPA network - find someone who has availability that takes BUPA and is fee assured (unless you’re happy to top up) then phone up to get them added.