Reply to: Private Medical Care

[malvolio]

And that's what I said - initially you pay for access, not expertise. And afterwards you get better care in a better environment.

But going back to your examples, in the first case the fault is not in access to the constultant, the real fault was in not diagnosing an acute condition: had that been done, a consultant would have been found. Perhaps you should be suing the GP for malpractice.

In the second case the fault is the Government's targets, that forces chronic, non-debilitating conditions to the back of the queue. It's the same problem that leaves expensive heart cases to wait while the hospital knocks out half a cheap non-urgent ops to keep their funding straight.

[Fungus]

Fungus...

You are making the usual fundamental mistake. The people delivering the treatment are the same - there is not a second layer of highly-paid surgeons and other specialists waiting in the wings for private work: there are some, but the majority have to do a proportion of NHS work.

Where the difference lies is in waiting time and access. And apart from anything else, the consultants are getting the run-around from the NHS management (for whom they have little but contempt) and tend not to take the cooperative approach. Paid work, however - that's a different matter...

No I'm not making the usual mistake. I know full well that they are the same people. The point is that a) private means faster and b) private means more chance of seeing someone. That difference can be the difference between life and death or life and serious disability, and most people do not realise that as they hold to the quaint idea that the NHS is as good as private.

Fungus

[The Lone Gunman]

This might be the answer to fairer divorce settlements. Get the sex change first and then get a divorce.

There is a choice for the future that the feminista will like. You get to keep either your fortune or your goolies! The richest people in the world will all be women.

[Clog II The Avenger]

You can get your sex change done for a decent price and work in a holiday in Thailand. HTH.

This might be the answer to fairer divorce settlements. Get the sex change first and then get a divorce.

[malvolio]

Fungus...

You are making the usual fundamental mistake. The people delivering the treatment are the same - there is not a second layer of highly-paid surgeons and other specialists waiting in the wings for private work: there are some, but the majority have to do a proportion of NHS work.

Where the difference lies is in waiting time and access. And apart from anything else, the consultants are getting the run-around from the NHS management (for whom they have little but contempt) and tend not to take the cooperative approach. Paid work, however - that's a different matter...

[ASB]

Treatment probably depends on the "normality" of your case. Arguably with private care you get easier access to more specialised folk.

My opthalmic NHS surgeon referred me to a speciific consultant at Moorfields. With NHS waits my apponitment was originally scheduled for October, however I discovered my medical insurance had no restriciton on pre-existing conditions.

It was therefore a trivial matter to arrange a private appointment at his personal clinic in my convenience.

As a result of this he has referred me to a neurologist (or rather yet another one), This is a guy who specialises in my possible condition. Had I still been an NHS patient this would not have happened, I would have first been referred to a neurologist at Moorfields who would then have referred me to this chap.

Mind you he's nearly 3 months for an initial private appointment, lord knows how long it is on the NHS.

[The Lone Gunman]

I don't have medical insurance, so I'm paying directly. Hopefully it shouldn't be too expensive (starts praying like a zealot).

You can get your sex change done for a decent price and work in a holiday in Thailand. HTH.

[WageSlave]

I don't have medical insurance, so I'm paying directly. Hopefully it shouldn't be too expensive (starts praying like a zealot).

[Fungus]

BTW These days it can work out much cheaper to go to somewhere like India for a major op. They have better hospitals (better staff patient ratio with the latest equipment).

[Fungus]

Apart from receiving treatment quickly, are there any advantages to using a private GP/hopsital? Is the level of 'professionalism' and competence the same as the NHS?

Cheers

Same treatment eh?

My half brother's father went to his GP complaining of pains. His GP dismissed them as normal age pains. He paid for a private consultation and was diagnosed with cancer, and is receiving radiotherapy that has prolonged his life.

A colleague repeatedly went to his GP over a period of 6 months requesting to be examined, and being refused. Eventually a physio examined him, and forwarded him to a hospital where a late stage cancer was diagnosed. He made an appointment to see a consultant on the NHS and was told to wait several weeks due to the consultant going on holiday. The company put him through privately, he was seen immediately, and the consultant said that he was so ill that had he waited two weeks on the NHS he might have been too weak to survive chemotherapy.

My half sister had serious back trouble and was given a long wait for an op on the NHS. Her father pair ~£20,000 for her to go privately. She had major back surgery and was told by the surgeon that had she waited on the NHS, her back would have crumbled, and she would have been paraplegic. The op was a success and she walks near perfectly.

My late mother had cataracts and said she had to wait 10 years for them to be done. I know she waited at least 5 years. She was near blind when they were done, and within 6 moths of the ops she died.

These are not exceptional cases, just typical ones that I know about. The idea that you get as good treatment on the NHS is simply not true. (Yes the same people perform the ops, but it's the front end stuff that is as important.)

But the next question is whether or not it is worth paying for BUPA etc. After a certain age the premiums are so high that it is best to pay oneself.

Fungus

[GeorgeGregan]

I am with BUPA and would recommend them.

My wife needed a major back operation. Waiting list would have been approx 18 months with NHS and the chances of it being a success decrease rapidly with time. Total cost of hospital plus followup stuff that they've paid out was over £15,000 so if neither of us use it again for 12 years we're still better off.

[WageSlave]

Thanks, MrGoof and Malovlio

I was thinking of giving BUPA a try (or BMI).

[malvolio]

The medical care and treatment is exactly the same, usually by the same people . Where you gain is in convenience (fairly important), comfort (ultimately unimportant) and much better aftercare and nursing (so you get better quickly). If you can afford it, go for it

[AtW]

More fit female nurses?

[MrsGoof]

I've had two opperations privately both performed by the same surgeon who would have done it had I waited and gone the NHS route.

The differences are:
It's QUICKER
You have better access to the doctors (can ring em up and speak to them directly)
The private hospitals are nicer much nicer