For those who have accessed private healthcare, do you find there is a big difference in speed and quality of care compared to NHS?

[Yappydogs]

I recently decided to book a private GP appointment owing to some ongoing health issues I've been having. It's the first time in my life that I've accessed private health treatment. It was regarding something that's been impacting my quality of life for a while. I was having tremendous difficulties getting an appointment with my NHS GP. At the practice I'm registered with, you have to jump through hoops backwards and blindfolded to even have a chance of getting an appointment. You can only get an FTF (face-to-face) appointment in what they deem to be exceptional circumstances. You also have to deal with receptionists gatekeeping you (and heaven forbid if it's an embarrassing problem, or just something you'd prefer to only discuss with the GP directly). They seemingly have an obsession with telephone appointments. I believe this is the norm now in England, but some practices seem to be worse for it than others.

With all of that mentioned, with the private appointment I had, the difference in how easy it was to make an appointment, and how I was dealt with upon attending, was night and day compared to the NHS. I booked a 30-minute appointment which gave me ample time to explain what my issues were. With the NHS it's a maximum of 10 minutes per appointment, and I've found that in reality it can often be less than that. I get the sense that they can't wait to get rid of you, and there is a sense of a revolving door when attending appointments. The GP I saw privately was very patient and understanding. I actually feel like I am getting somewhere now after being fobbed off for so long. I'm aware that it may well get expensive quite quickly as I don't have PMI, but I was prepared for that. I've been saving up for this appointment and subsequent ones that I might require. Do you think the old adage of "you get what you pay for" applies to healthcare as much as any other service or commodity?

What a good post, and a good idea. Thank you. Apparently there is an NHS Trust in the North East which gets everything right, and runs a budget surplus, with excellent health outcomes and high satisfaction rates for staff and patients alike. That must even include old people, being "treated with dignity and respect." Imagine that (!)

I've gone private for a few issues, some covered by insurance and some privately funded.

Private consultations just seem less hurried. You can ask more questions and they listen to you more. You get to speak to the actual consultant whereas my experience of NHS consultations is you are usually seen by a student who then reports back to the consultant.

The actual treatment and care is the same really. I've had amazing care as an inpatient under the NHS and the only actual difference going private is a private room and less waiting around on the day ( as well as shorter waiting times)

I've paid for my daughter to have private surgery ( during Covid lockdown when they cancelled her booked NHS surgery ) so it was either pay to go private or wait the three years they estimated the pandemic delay to be.

The care was great but no better than the care she has had many times as an inpatient at Gt Ormond St ( always amazing)

Our local NHS cancer treatment is relatively quick still. There are not many evidence based treatments that are not available on the NHS. Unfortunately I have seen a couple of people go privately (some went to Europe) for treatments which ultimately were never going to do what was hoped. One person IMO wasted the precious time they had, travelling and attending hospitals for other opinions and options. I wouldn’t want this for myself.

You don’t know that until you are in those shoes. Nothing he had was controversial. They were treatments which are standard of care else where in Europe and the US. I don’t want to go into what they were because they are quite specific to the rare cancer. Other treatments are also not radical, they’re ones the NHS knows work but for cost reasons don’t offer them either as first line treatment or without appealing for their use. My husband lived 2 years longer than he probably would have and 18 months of those, due to the treatment the NHS wouldn’t offer, it was just a pill, he worked full time, took a load of holidays, celebrated milestones and gave himself time to make memories for his kids rather than going straight into chemo which is what the NHS wanted to do. Would you really not want to do that if you had the opportunity. You can;t match the speed of private. Because the cancer was rare, yes we did want second and third opinions. We managed to get them within 3 days, we had scans the same day the dr wanted them, we had results sometimes within an hour, there was no waiting around for appointments.

All appointments were with the same doctor, the one we chose, we never had to re-explain the situation, were never passed from pillar to post, never saw a junior doctor who had just had a quick scan of notes, never had to deal with different departments, got straight through to the secretary and had the consultants mobile and email address 24/7 if we needed him You cant even begin underestimate how much this helped mentally as well as physically.

100% yes. I wouldn’t be without private health insurance nowadays. Quality and speed of treatment is terrifyingly night and day in comparison to the NHS.

I’m a HCP and the fact that now even our own surgeons feel the need to insure their families speaks volumes - you simply cannot rely on the NHS anymore, it’s a disgrace.