Private Health Care: a good or bad thing?

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OK, to avoid hi-jacking the education thread I thought I'd start this new shiny one! So, private health care, a great idea (if you can afford it) or completely unfair on the rest of society?

Don't do it WWW - the yurt will be overflowing by the end of all this!

It's a bad thing.

How is it unfair on the rest of the society exactly?. By paying for something our of your own pocket, aren't you freeing up resources for those unable to afford to make that choice?

Good point Croppy. And I'd like to also know that if your child was going through a series of test and you didn't know what was wrong with him / her and thought it may be cancer or something equally horrible but were told you'd have to wait a month to see the consultant for the results but enquired privately and could pay £150 to get them in a couple of days which would you go for. I know which I'd go for. Im not saying it's right, it stinks but at the end of the day I want the best for my family. That's all.

And does anyone that is anti private healthcare get it with work ? I do and so does dh so neither or us pays for it but if we were anti it would that mean we would refuse it ?

It's another two tier system which means that the people who have power can happily ignore the problems in the NHS as they never have to use it themselves. We were once a nation with possibly the best health service in the world - do we want to become like America where if you can't pay then you just don't get the service? And yes I have so much sympathy for anyone in the situation of being seriously ill, these are individual cases not the general issue.

Maybe I'm being hypocritical here as if I get a spotrs injury I go to an osteopath!

I do think about your point Croppy - but I think maybe that's a short term rather than a long term solution.

I think it is different to education actually.
Education has reasonably set boundaries, the goals are quite easy to define.

However, healthcare has a much wider remit. We should fund a quality emergency service, services for children, antenatal , operations that give people quality of life ( hip operations etc... ). But where do you draw the line? As our knowledge increases we have the ability to do a much wider range of things and there is no possible way that all these things should be funded through the NHS.

If people want these additional services then why shouldn't they pay for them.

People expect the NHS to provide everything - but it can't. How many hip operations can you do for the cost of a heart transplant ? Should fertility treatment be funded by the NHS ?

I for one have been frustrated by the inflexibility of the NHS. Where I live, pregnant women get offered just one scan, at 20 weeks. Being 38, I wanted a nuchal fold done at 12 weeks but this wasn't available (although bizarrely an amnio was). So I had to shell out £150 and go private. I would have so much preferred that £150 to end up in the NHS than in the private system but there is no facility for this.

Just a quick one and then I'll come back later but tillysmummy, yes, I was offered PPP with my last job and turned it down on principle.

i have worked as a nurse in various depts,in different parts of the country for the last 17 yrs,all my posts have been in the nhs,and all i can say is that i have no problem with people paying if they choose to but the BEST CARE,the most talented and dedicated people work in the nhs,it is not like education where paying gets you a better deal.You may have tests quicker etc if you pay(and i truly do not criticise those who do)but i honestly believe the nhs is best option.

I will admit to not being in favour of private education but being prepared to pay for medical treatment if necessary. My reasons are quite simplistic - as I can afford to do so, (as Croppy says) it means that those who can't afford to do so are able to use the already over-stretched NHS - I don't think its right but morally, as I can afford to pay (and am lucky enough to have been in the sorts of job - and is this down to education? ! - where private health care was offered) - I would think it right that I do pay.

Fortunately, I and DH are in good health and have rarely had to have private care but I was recently considering sterilisation & would have paid for it myself.

Our DS has had the most fantastic care under the NHS at Great Ormond Street which would have cost thousands - we did offer to pay but were told it was not necessary (needless to say we gave a substantial donation & continue to fundraise for GOSH).

I agree with Kaz23 - it is impossible to fund all the sorts of treatment now under the NHS - it desperately needs a radical over-haul, I don't know what the answer is, but I can't believe how many administrators etc work in the NHS.

OK, having been in and out of hospital (NHS and private) all my life I feel well placed to say that I would chose private every time. The last time I experienced NHS care I ended up with a horrendous infection and ended up being admitted to a private hospital as an emergency, operated on and pumped full of anti-biotics for weeks. About a month later the NHS hospital called to say they'd had a cancellation and could I come in that afternoon so they could investigate the problems I was having. The NHS is horrendously understaffed and underfunded - probably being really naive here but can't see how my going private has made life worse for anyone on an NHS waiting list. Surely by going private you take some of the load off an already overstretched organisation? Plus the food is bloody awful.

Roll on the irate responses...

I see things from the other side (well to be honest, I hear about things from the other side) and without an nhs to bail people out, things can get really nasty if you get seriously ill. I know people who have to save up to buy the medicines and equipment they need to have an operation as they have to pay for every single item used. Or people from villages with cancer who camp outside the city hospital living in plastic tents so that they can have chemo. So I think an nhs is essential for people to have any quality of life at all.
that said, I can understand why people go private esp if it means queue jumping if the alternative is to wait a life threateningly long period of time. I love my private insurance. when I was pregnant I would just go to my obs with any questions, I saw her at least once a month for checks, got all my screening done, and then she waas also present at the birth. Paying means you don't have to feel guilty.
But why do people feel they get a better deal with private insurance/hospitals? I think for reasons like getting prompt medical care in well equiped hospitals with well qualified staff who take the time to explain things etc. Well shouldn't we all be entitled to that? Why don't we get it when other first world countries seem perfectly capable of providing it? Sorry I don't know but maybe paying more money, empowering patients, training staff to be polite as well as educated (don't bite my head off here but I've met some really rude people with no social skills whatsoever when in nhs hospitals - customer care skills??)would all help.
BTW just to link back to the schools thing, in some ways they are quite different because private schools can employ people with no teaching qualifications whatsoever. I understand that in private hospitals you see the same specialist as nhs just faster?

One problem in some areas with private health care is that it is provided by doctors who take time off their NHS work to do private clinics. That means they're spending less time on NHS patients and thus bump up those waiting lists - coincidentally increasing demand for private care.

Well i'm an out and out failure i'm sure cos i've paid for private healthcare as well as school for my dd aged 8. My NhS consultant said she needed an MRI to exclude the possibility of a brain tumour earlier this year. There was a 6 wk wait locally and the scanner was broken. We paid and had it done the next week - thank God it was clear. I do not regret it one little bit and would do the same again if I had to. That said, we did 'try' NHS first - we didn't just leap to the private sector, just as i visited all the local state schools before deciding to opt out

But doesn't the argument about being able to afford to pay for healthcare thereby relieving an overburdened state system equally apply to private education?

I am all for the NHS. I would love to access the NHS. I would love to be able to praise the NHS. But so far it has been unable to provide basic services for ds1. According to his diagnoses he needs speech therpay 5 times a week for 2 years, and he needs a good dose of OT. Ha ha ha ha. We get speech therapy once every 8 weeks (having waited 2 years) and OT not at all (been waiting one year- have been told it will be at least another 2). These therapies can make the difference between an independent life for him in the future and an institutionalised life.

My friends daughter (who is 6) has such bad mobility she needs a wheelchair (NHS). Consultants keep asking her when she was diagnosed with cerebal palsy. (She doesn't have cp- she has many things- but not cp) and she has been waiting 3 years for OT.

For those of you who take the moral high ground- thank your lucky stars you don't have a child described as "complex". As soon as the words "complex difficulties" appear in a report you know your child has had it. The NHS writes these children off.

We can't afford to pay for the level of SALT that ds1 needs- butI am happy to pay for odd sessions to be given ideas. The SALTS we have seen both moved into the private sector as they said they couldn't do their job within the NHS (ie they couldn't actually treat children anymore). I've laso just contacted a SALT in the states to ask her for advice - I may send her a video tape to get more advice (approx 100 dollars). I resent having to spend money on basic services, but we do not have a choice. If I take the moral high ground then ds1 suffers.

can we swap horro NHS stories.

A friend had been bleeding heavily for about 2 weeks. She was absolutely paranoid as her sister had died of cervical cancer in her 30's. She was very distressed- she really thought she had cancer. She went to her GP who gave her a drug to stop the bleeding but told her she was only allowed to take it for 2 weeks. She also gave her a form to get an urgent scan. She told her it was important that the scan was done whilst she was on the drug and not bleeding.

Friend went to book the scan. "Urgent scans- that's and 8-12 weeks wait" said the booking clerk. Friend explained about thaving to take the drug - but only for 2 weeks. Clerk shrugged her shoulders and said "what do you expect me to do about it".

Friend phoned up private hospital- paid 90 quid and had scan done the next day. She has since taken out private health care.

Croppy - yes, but kids don't have to go on a waiting list and wait months or years to see a teacher and then another list before they can start education - by sending your child to private school you aren't allowing another child the chance of an NHS education, they will get it regardless. (How good it might be is another matter)

Croppy, the argument doesn't apply if you don't buy it in the first place.

Croppy - yes, that's an interesting question but I don't believe that education & health care are exactly the same under the discussions we're currently having. If I don't use the space I have been allocated at the local primary school (no choice, it is the only one) it doesn't necessarily mean that another child will get a better education. I've explained why I don't agree with private education (& been shouted down for it!) on the other thread so I won't repeat my misgivings. But, as others have said, by staying in the state system & contributing to it via PTA, school governor, class room volunteer etc - perhaps we can help make it better for others?

Oh my god - not another hot pot!!! Already opened the bottle of dry sheery before I read this one!

On the whole I use/get benefits from the NHS and it has done my lots of good, but not always. When pg and having DD it was great. When I had heart problems they were useless - and I mean useless!!! I had my consultants appointment cancelled 3 times and it was well over a year before new ones came. I still suffer and still haven't seen a consultant - this is over 5 years later. If it gets worse then I will consider paying to see a consultant - about £90 I have been told. I shouldn't have to but when is enough enough?

My family have private health care - we are covered through DHs work.

Before this, we paid £1600 for DD1 to have her tonsils/adenoids removed after paying £100 to see the ENT consultant - who couldn't believe we hadn't been referred to him long before then. All the GPs I saw refused to refer her. (and please don't assume the ENT Cons. agreed to remove them as we were private - he decided to remove them before we confirmed we would pay!).

I don't have a problem with private health care -the way I view it is that we are contributing to the NHS via our Taxes but we are paying again and not using the resources on the NHS.

I'm not sure sobernow. Round here you can't even find a private speech therapist or OT- so its not that they're all in private practice- there just aren't any.

Same here Jimjams, there are no private OTS, (well one 'sort of' actually but useless) and no speech therapists.