Private Medical Insurance

Scottland

Scottland

Scottland

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
15,712
Location
North Wales
Just wondering who he pays for Private Medical/Health insurance? I'm looking at options at the moment as my wife and I have both had pretty rubbish experiences through the NHS over the last 12 months (mainly waiting list related).

Anyone cancelled it after a bad experience, or anything else I should know?

PS - I know it won't cover any existing conditions.
 
(declaration of interest: doctor)
In the UK, private healthcare is much less regulated than the NHS.
There are some things that I honestly cannot recommend going private for...ie it depends on what kind of medical condition you want private care.
 
I've had private healthcare in the past both via employer and paying for it privately...

Things it's good for IMO - minor procedure (and quick scan relating to minor procedure) and seeing medic/consultant quickly etc...

Things it isn't necessarily good for IMO - serious stuff, especially if chronic (insurance will eventually not cover aside for acute episodes).

So for example you have a dodgy knee, well crack on, go see a private consultant, get yourself an MRI scan within a couple of days etc... for example I went for a lunchtime MRI facility near Liverpool Street... like not even a hospital but just a private convenient facility so professionals could walk in and get an MRI... I'd been to see a consultant like 2 days before hand...

If you need a minor operation on your knee (and you're otherwise healthy etc..) then private can be fine... consultant can at the next meeting be like "yeah I've got capacity next week, shall I book you in then" - you can get stuff sorted, scan done and operation booked quicker than it would take the department secretary/admin staff to even read the letter/fax your GP sent in the NHS.

On the other hand - while London does have some big private hospitals, you probably don't want to have something major done in a lot of private facilities... if stuff goes wrong you want the staffing levels and facilities of a proper hospital.

There is a sort of hybrid option - some NHS trusts also offer private facilities, kind of best of both worlds - for example the Royals have traditionally used a posh maternity wing connected to a proper NHS hospital etc... Royal Brompton in London does lots of private work, and has consulting rooms in Central London. Though you want it to be part of the hospital itself not just nearby or next to it and with some flimsy provision that the crash team from the local hospital will sprint across the carpark if needed etc..

But generally, if it is serious then NHS is the way to go and get your case reviewed in a proper interdisciplinary team meeting etc..
 
Thanks for the replies, I understand re serious treatments. Where the issues we've had and the appeal of private comes in - is times to see a specialist, get a scan/diagnosis. Both myself and wife had had referrals from the GP for separate conditions to separate departments and both been told it's a 12month wait...
 
If it's "just" a scan/diagnosis you're after, then by all means...go private
You'll most likely see the same NHS doctors that are doing private sessions, really. lol.
 
tamzzy said:
If it's "just" a scan/diagnosis you're after, then by all means...go private
You'll most likely see the same NHS doctors that are doing private sessions, really. lol.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I don't really expect to see a 'better' doctor or anything - nor do I have anything against the NHS. But the system is so full up, if it's a choice of waiting a year or 2 days I know what is choose!
 
tamzzy said:
Lol. Said no one in the crash team ever.
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Fair enough. I guess that's not the done thing - quick walk across car park instead :)

I don't know what they're like outside London but read something about small private hospital without sufficient facilities and reliance on nearby hospital on ad-hoc basis or calling ambulances etc... there was some mention of out of hours stuff relying on a contract with the local hospital across a car park in one instance IIRC.
 
dowie said:
Fair enough. I guess that's not the done thing - quick walk across car park instead :)

I don't know what they're like outside London but read something about small private hospital without sufficient facilities and reliance on nearby hospital on ad-hoc basis or calling ambulances etc... there was some mention of out of hours stuff relying on a contract with the local hospital across a car park in one instance IIRC.
Click to expand...

Many private hospitals have a single doctor on call out of hours. Anything serious occurs you get lobbed in an ambulance and taken to the nearest A&E.
 
Scottland said:
Thanks for the replies, I understand re serious treatments. Where the issues we've had and the appeal of private comes in - is times to see a specialist, get a scan/diagnosis. Both myself and wife had had referrals from the GP for separate conditions to separate departments and both been told it's a 12month wait...
Click to expand...

Thing is - these are now pre-existing conditions, are you looking at taking out insurance individually rather than with an existing company scheme*? If so that's not how insurance tends to work.

You could have course pay directly... like go for an initial consultation, pay for some tests, pay for a scan etc.. and follow up consultation. A consultation could be anything from like £100-£200 or so, you'd pay for any blood tests etc.. and an MRI could be like say £800 or something, then follow up consultation for another £100-£200.

Then depending on result you might want to get referred to the consultant's NHS dept.

If you're insured then your GP will write the referral for initial consultation pretty much no questions asked, much easier than they'd write an NHS referral. If you're paying yourself then you don't even need that, find the specialist you want to see and phone up their secretary and get booked in when they're next free. This can often be in a couple of days/next week etc.. unless you're after someone with a high profile who everyone with X disease has heard of and wants to see.

Some company schemes do cover pre-existing conditions and so you could just opt into yours perhaps if it does.

Also re: your 12 month wait - is that for your local hospital your GP practice always referee people to? You do realise you can be referred elsewhere (other teams at other NHS hospitals) if you request it.
 
Minstadave said:
Many private hospitals have a single doctor on call out of hours. Anything serious occurs you get lobbed in an ambulance and taken to the nearest A&E.
Click to expand...
lol this grinds my nuts endlessly...fixing the mess that happens in private hospitals

dowie said:
there was some mention of out of hours stuff relying on a contract with the local hospital across a car park in one instance IIRC.
Click to expand...
no, you are correct.
some nhs trusts do get paid by the private hospital to cover their private patients via the crash bleep.
i worked at a trust that used to do this. t'was a 5min brisk-ish walk/2mins car ride ;)
either way, if something serious happened, it would've been 7-8 mins before everyone arrived...and the default response was to call 999 for an ambo to the a+e where a proper assessment could take place
 
My experience with Bupa wasn't great. I had it with a previous employer. I injured my knee and struggled with it for a few months. I finally decided to go and see a consultant. He was 45 mins late for the first appointment and 30 for the second with an MRI scan in the middle. He basically told me there was no abnormalities, injuries or arthritis in it. The consultant never really gave me confidence in that he believed what i was telling him or that he could actually help me. I was basically told to rest it for 6 months. I struggled on for the best part of a year and got back cycling and that was 5 years ago. In hindsight i should have asked for a second opinion. Before Xmas i injured the same knee again but went to a neighbour who was a physio. Within minutes she told me my patella tracking was misaligned, my hip was slightly twisted and a few other things. It was likely my patella has been misaligned since or before the original injury. Its amazing when you find people who are actually good at their jobs.
 
dowie said:
Thing is - these are now pre-existing conditions, are you looking at taking out insurance individually rather than with an existing company scheme*? If so that's not how insurance tends to work.

You could have course pay directly... like go for an initial consultation, pay for some tests, pay for a scan etc.. and follow up consultation. A consultation could be anything from like £100-£200 or so, you'd pay for any blood tests etc.. and an MRI could be like say £800 or something, then follow up consultation for another £100-£200.

Then depending on result you might want to get referred to the consultant's NHS dept.

If you're insured then your GP will write the referral for initial consultation pretty much no questions asked, much easier than they'd write an NHS referral. If you're paying yourself then you don't even need that, find the specialist you want to see and phone up their secretary and get booked in when they're next free. This can often be in a couple of days/next week etc.. unless you're after someone with a high profile who everyone with X disease has heard of and wants to see.

Some company schemes do cover pre-existing conditions and so you could just opt into yours perhaps if it does.

Also re: your 12 month wait - is that for your local hospital your GP practice always referee people to? You do realise you can be referred elsewhere (other teams at other NHS hospitals) if you request it.
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I've already seen a private consultant for my current problem took a couple of appointments and some more blood work but finally have a diagnosis and treatment plan; I'm working on the assumption that as a pre-existing condition it wont be covered anyway, plus don't have any company scheme I can get. So I'm more planning/thinking about the future rather than existing issues.
 
If it happens I've got a date of April 22nd for a full knee replacement - it only took 4 years.
On the other hand my wife had a normal appointment to see a Clinician and later this month the operation is being done in a private hospital at no cost to us.
 
Beerbaron said:
My experience with Bupa wasn't great. I had it with a previous employer. I injured my knee and struggled with it for a few months. I finally decided to go and see a consultant. He was 45 mins late for the first appointment and 30 for the second with an MRI scan in the middle. He basically told me there was no abnormalities, injuries or arthritis in it. The consultant never really gave me confidence in that he believed what i was telling him or that he could actually help me. I was basically told to rest it for 6 months. I struggled on for the best part of a year and got back cycling and that was 5 years ago. In hindsight i should have asked for a second opinion. Before Xmas i injured the same knee again but went to a neighbour who was a physio. Within minutes she told me my patella tracking was misaligned, my hip was slightly twisted and a few other things. It was likely my patella has been misaligned since or before the original injury. Its amazing when you find people who are actually good at their jobs.
Click to expand...

yeah i've had bupa with work. it's been great to get seen quickly but whether you get a good doctor or not is another thing
one i went to see came out to a waiting room full of people and kind of went 'ini mini miny moe' to find out who he'd take in next. i sat there for well over an hr past when i was meant to see him. i ended up with a second opinion on that one too, he was useless.
this isn't bupas fault, just unprofessional practitioners, you can get them everywhere.
for minor stuff and scans etc it's good to have. but as a wise man once said, just don't get sick in the first place ;)
 
Great experience with BUPA, was seen very quickly, picked the consultant i wanted, private hospital and all staff turned out to be fantastic, did some tests got immediate results, talked about them, all turned out to be OK and put my mind at rest.

Got the bills sat infront of me, just need to pay the small excess and claim it back.
 
I have gone private through work seeing as it costs so little.

My referral to ENT through my GP was a 22 week wait time. Rang AXA and got one booked within a week.

I'm also going through physio for a few long standing issues. Just so happens that the one insurance referred me to is a local one I would probably have used anyway which is good. And I'm probably going to get referred by her to a specialist through it too. The costs would seriously be racking up which is partly why I hadn't done it previously.
 
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