Reply to: Private Healthcare Question - How to avoid NHS

[Eirikur]

If you're in an ambulance you don't get a say

Actually you have (as long as your conscious) I mentioned I had private insurance, they checked with the local private hospital if they could deal with my case, they said yes and was delivered to my local private hospital.

[doodab]

With respect, although you probably mean to suggest that reason was that the closer A & Es are rubbish, it might be that the one selected was better equipped in a non-medical sense to handle a top VIP?

Few hospitals can boast a well stocked drinks cabinet these days

[expat]

...
I would have thought the duke of Edinburgh being taken by helicopter over the top of several closer A & E's to one of the few that are decent at this would tell you all you need to know.
...

With respect, although you probably mean to suggest that reason was that the closer A & Es are rubbish, it might be that the one selected was better equipped in a non-medical sense to handle a top VIP?

[zoco]

Well it's just as well we're all making whopping contributions in employer's and employee's NI then isn't it? At least we know we'd have paid our share should we ever have to use the health service

[doodab]

Indeed. And not just for a few weeks - it needs to be day after day, week after week, month after month, year after miserable fecking year...

Isn't life grand

[mudskipper]

5 a day and stay off the fags and booze.

WHS. And exercise.

Indeed. And not just for a few weeks - it needs to be day after day, week after week, month after month, year after miserable fecking year...

[doodab]

5 a day and stay off the fags and booze.

WHS. And exercise.

[SueEllen]

Unless you're old.

If you are old make sure you have family to come to every appointment and to stay with you as long as possible in hospital.

[d000hg]

How many UK A & E's regularly fit stents within an hour of admission?

I don't know, where are the figures? I assume you have them.

I would have thought the duke of Edinburgh being taken by helicopter over the top of several closer A & E's to one of the few that are decent at this would tell you all you need to know.

No, it tells us precisely nothing. The fact the royal family get preferential treatment is not a surprise.

Being at the funeral of someone told he needed an immediate stent who died without one a week later told me all i need to know.

Sad as that must be, I'm afraid it doesn't. An isolated incident doesn't tell you much at all, whether the person is your wife or a total stranger is not medically relevant.

[Old Greg]

If you have a critical situation while at a private hospital you get sent to a NHS hospital because most private facilities don't even have a crash cart -- or whatever they are called - for emergencies. You take your chances. Best bet is a private ward of a NHS hospital.

I agree with the conclusion, but I would expect that any hospital with an operating theatre has proper resuscitation equipment. The problem is likely to be the staff around out of hours.

[mudskipper]

For emergencies, yes you'd go to the NHS, but to be fair, it's really good at the (literally) cutting edge stuff.
If not an emergency you can always go to a private GP or Harley St. specialist who'll refer you direct to a specialist covered by BUPA or whatever.

Unless you're old.

[lilelvis2000]

Broadly speaking I would agree.

In addition to emergency treatment, highly specialist treatment is better done in an NHS hospital (but the ward environment may be a private one). The problem with the NHS is usually not the (medical) treatment, but the (nursing) care and the ward environment.

Private is usually fine for outpatient consultations, scans and short stay elective 'conveyor belt' procedures like cataracts, hip replacements etc. You should be aware that overnight standards of care is highly variable (I understand anecdotally) in private hospitals, with a Resident Medical Officer who would not be left in charge in an NHS hospital, and teams of agency nurses who do not regularly work together and who may not be familiar with local protocols. In particular, avoid private hospitals for anything that may need an intensive care bed. Finally, check that your surgeon is a good NHS surgeon, and not someone flown in from the continent to do a list and then flow back out again with no continuity of care.

If you have a critical situation while at a private hospital you get sent to a NHS hospital because most private facilities don't even have a crash cart -- or whatever they are called - for emergencies. You take your chances. Best bet is a private ward of a NHS hospital.

[minestrone]

5 a day and stay off the fags and booze.

[CoolCat]

I don't think "my mate" stories really carry much weight for generalising how things happen across the country.

How many UK A & E's regularly fit stents within an hour of admission? A simple cheap life saving operation, which transforms chances and gives reasonable chances of multi decade survival? How many fit hardly any at all?

This is the routine stuff where medical intervention really can transform survival life chances, this is exactly what A & E should be for.

In comparison to the rest of the developed world we are getting rubbish service, there is much more to it than “my mate” stories, chat to some docs and nurses.

I would have thought the duke of Edinburgh being taken by helicopter over the top of several closer A & E's to one of the few that are decent at this would tell you all you need to know.

Being at the funeral of someone told he needed an immediate stent who died without one a week later told me all i need to know.

[northernladuk]

I don't think "my mate" stories really carry much weight for generalising how things happen across the country.

^ Completely this.