So, the NHS...

[Malevolence]

..is bloody brilliant. Got a sizeable lipoma on my hip and have decided to finally get this wee fella excised whilst my eczema is finally under some semblance of control.

Went to my GP on the 3rd of this month (got appointment on the same day I phoned up) and after she'd poked, prodded and looked at it and sent a referral letter to the minor surgery dept. of the local hospital. Got a letter back within a week for the appointment at a local private clinic that also does NHS work. Went to see the Doc. there today, and am now booked in for the surgery next Friday.

Well impressed with that service.

 

[LeMson]

How have you gotten your eczema under control?

 

[Dis86]

You OP says it all. Private clinic.

 

[Malevolence]

How have you gotten your eczema under control?

Without turning this into a medical thread, a combination of phototherapy and some potent, industrial strength creams and tablets. It's not gone by a long shot, but it is far better than it was a few months back.

 

[MM-Seat]

Good to see someone with something positive to say about it!

 

[DampDog]

You OP says it all. Private clinic.

It does indeed.

The NHS now routinely allows private companies cherry pick the easy cases and pocket the profits. Only thing is, if it's a complex case they reject it, so the NHS spends it's cash sorting out the difficult cases. I've been having some ENT problems so went to my GP, and he referred me to a specialist. I used the choose and book and had an appointment with a private hospital within 10 days. The following day I had a phone call saying that I had been rejected by the private clinic because of my "cardiac" problems. The next available appointment with the NHS was 10 weeks.

The NHS pay "X" pounds for a service and if the private companies can come in cheaper or match the price, the work is handed off. But unless you are 100% fit in every other area, they kick it back to the NHS because it would cost them money. So they suck up all the easy patients and throw those back that look like they might cost them money. Plus once the NHS hand off the services to the private sector they will probably lose them for good, as they will never reinvest to re-establish the services internally

I owe my life 3X over to the NHS, we are lucky to have it. Does it always get it right or spend the money wisely, NO. But I'd sooner have it spent on the NHS than going into pockets of private shareholders.

 

[tamzzy]

as someone that works on intensive care (so probably very slightly biased), simple procedures privately is fine.
complex operations (on the provision that one is normally fit and well) eg hip/knee ops done privately is okay too...

but for major complex stuff, definitely would do it via nhs.
private medical healthcare in the uk is comparatively cheaper because there's always the nhs fallback.
it's uncommon, but definitely common enough, where if a routine procedure goes wrong (or if there's a complication of a procedure)...guess where this "private" patient ends up?
yeah...nhs emergency department +/- nhs intensive care...

 

[DampDog]

as someone that works on intensive care (so probably very slightly biased), simple procedures privately is fine.
complex operations (on the provision that one is normally fit and well) eg hip/knee ops done privately is okay too...

but for major complex stuff, definitely would do it via nhs.
private medical healthcare in the uk is comparatively cheaper because there's always the nhs fallback.
it's uncommon, but definitely common enough, where if a routine procedure goes wrong (or if there's a complication of a procedure)...guess where this "private" patient ends up?
yeah...nhs emergency department +/- nhs intensive care...

I agree that simply having whatever simple procedure you require from the patients perspective is a good thing. It's done quickly with no fuss so long as it's straightforward, with no complications.

But I'd put money on it going like this. More and more of the simple procedures will become routinely handed off to private companies. As these procedures are done outside the NHS, then someone will decide that, that particular department is over capacity, so the provision of resources/money will be reduced.

Eventually much of it will be done outside so the NHS will no longer need to maintain the expertise or capacity to do it. Once that happens the private sector will simply crank the prices up as they have the NHS over a barrel, knowing they can't just simply spend money adding capacity. It will also leech much of the expertise out of the NHS. It's short termism, in the same way that building new hospitals that cost 400million on paper via PFI's, end up costing 2.4 billion, which is what the estimated total cost of the Royal Stoke is predicted to be.

 

[Malevolence]

The Dermatology dept. at the Royal Stoke has been awesome to me. Proper life-changing treatment.

 

[Minstadave]

Given the NHS has to cancel its elective surgery in the winter I can only imagine this will happen more and more.

It’s frustrating because all these minor ops were good training for juniors and I can’t imagine it’s actually cheaper overall. I remember as a medical student doing minor skin ops.

 

[Raymond Lin]

as someone that works on intensive care (so probably very slightly biased), simple procedures privately is fine.
complex operations (on the provision that one is normally fit and well) eg hip/knee ops done privately is okay too...

but for major complex stuff, definitely would do it via nhs.
private medical healthcare in the uk is comparatively cheaper because there's always the nhs fallback.
it's uncommon, but definitely common enough, where if a routine procedure goes wrong (or if there's a complication of a procedure)...guess where this "private" patient ends up?
yeah...nhs emergency department +/- nhs intensive care...

But they are the same doctors?

 

[Minstadave]

But they are the same doctors?

Who are the same doctors?

I think he’s trying to highlight the issues when more risky procedures go wrong in private hospitals, not that they’re more likely to go wrong.

You have a massive PE after your hip replacement in a private hospital and there’s usually just any old random doctor on call out of hours (they will have to usually be a middle grade doctor with certain training). If you’re lucky they’ll find an anaethist that hasn’t gone home yet. You get assessed by said doc and if acutely unwell get slung in an ambulance to the local A&E to get sorted.

If the same happens in an NHS hospital you have ITU on site, outreach team, radiology services and facilities for treatment.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Who are the same doctors?

Yes, all private doctors (AFAIK) have to do a percentage hours annually for the NHS.

 

[DampDog]

The Dermatology dept. at the Royal Stoke has been awesome to me. Proper life-changing treatment.

Same here for me with coronary care. Fantastic treatment, people and care. Unfortunately for whatever reasons, I'm sure they are myriad and complex, A&E is not so good. However the people working there are outstanding.

 

[Minstadave]

Yes, all private doctors (AFAIK) have to do a percentage hours annually for the NHS.

I don’t think that’s true (I’m a paediatrician so am no expert on private work). NHS consultant’s are limited on their private work but I don’t think you have to work in the NHS to work privately. Maybe you do but I can’t see why.

 

[Minstadave]

Same here for me with coronary care. Fantastic treatment, people and care. Unfortunately for whatever reasons, I'm sure they are myriad and complex, A&E is not so good. However the people working there are outstanding.

A&E is sadly just a broken system currently.

 

[Energize]

Shame that so many cancer patients die compared to all the other countries though.

 

[Minstadave]

Shame that so many cancer patients die compared to all the other countries though.

We just don’t invest enough, every effort is put into treading water.

 

[DampDog]

Shame that so many cancer patients die compared to all the other countries though.

Absolutely, it's something that needs addressing. Unfortunately it's a fragmented service with the opportunities for care being governed by where you happen to live in some instances. I tend to be a stalwart fan of the NHS, but it lags behind best practice compared with some countries.

 

[Luckystrike123]

..is bloody brilliant. Got a sizeable lipoma on my hip and have decided to finally get this wee fella excised whilst my eczema is finally under some semblance of control.

Went to my GP on the 3rd of this month (got appointment on the same day I phoned up) and after she'd poked, prodded and looked at it and sent a referral letter to the minor surgery dept. of the local hospital. Got a letter back within a week for the appointment at a local private clinic that also does NHS work. Went to see the Doc. there today, and am now booked in for the surgery next Friday.

Well impressed with that service.

I'm glad that you are happy with the service you have received, but unfortunately I have been awaiting spinal surgery (L4/5 decompression disection) since the beginning of November and tbh I'm very dissatisfied.

- It took about 8 weeks to have an MRI scan from requesting one at my GP's
- My surgeon was very sympathetic and said that I should be sorted by the end of Jan - NOPE
- I was then told end of March - NOPE
- I was then told end of April - NOPE
- I've asked for a private hospital referral - NOPE
- I've had my pre-op assessment last week and been rejected for surgery as my blood pressure is too high (132/x and 128/x).

I now have to go to my GP and pass 3 tests. The real kicker is that they had these results in November, but did not act upon them. Further to this I've purchased a home BP machine and I consistently get 120-122/8x which is spot on!!!

God knows how long it will take to get these GP tests sorted as its difficult enough getting booked in.

I have a lot to thank the NHS for, specifically as my son was conceived via IVF, but this experience has ruined my life, left feeling suicidal and suffering from horrible side effects from pain management medication.