BUPA COSTS

[SteveT]

A friend admitted he pays ?220 pcm for the privilege, so not for the poor then.

Many NHS consultants are investing in this service too.

I was gobsmacked at the cost, and by people whom one would think did not need it.

It hardly fills one with confidence knowing that your NHS consultant throws cash at the private sector

to maintain his health needs.

[womanofdulwich]

i think that must be an amazing package. i get some bupa cover for myself at work and i thought it was about ?40 a month- it all goes on your p 60 as a benefit in kind

[Mick Mac]

P11d.

Mine is 3k per year - for 2 adults and 3 children. Unfortunately we have had cuase to make use of it a fair few times in recent years.

I'm surprised consultants are subscribing.

[Mick Mac]

Mick Mac Wrote:

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> P11d.

>

> Mine is 3k per year - for 2 adults and 3 children.

> Unfortunately we have had cuase to make use of it

> a fair few times in recent years.

>

> I'm surprised consultants are subscribing.

Edited to say its paid for by my employer and is for the employees benefit - they don't like people to refuse it, fearing probably that if you are ill they want you back at work pdq.

[????]

Isn't the thing about private health not the treatment but diagnosis?

You go to your GP on the NHS "I've bad headaches"

"Er, Probably stress, if it carries on for 6 weeks come back"

If you've paid ?250 for an appointment the doctor (and often it's the same GP) will at least give you a few more tests and is more likely to referr you.

Treatment is just as good on the NHS (without your own room and a wait if it's non urgent obviously)

Quids - NHS patient

[Mick Mac]

Ok Quids NHS patient - when is the last time you had a major operation on the NHS.

[????]

I never have.

[Mick Mac]

So how can you call yourself an NHS patient as you have not had to make your choice as yet?

[Ladymuck]

???? Wrote:

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> Treatment is just as good on the NHS

I would go so far as to say that it can sometimes be better. I recently accompanied someone very dear to me to the (NHS) Cardiologist at Kings St. Thomas'...excellent...gave us all the time in the world. When I had accompanied that same person to a private cardiologist (BUPA employee benefit), the cardiologist always seemed more interested in regularly checking his Rolex and twiddling with his jewel encrusted cufflinks rather than listening to his patient. The private cardiologist also made an incorrect diagnosis causing unnecessary additional stress.

Edited to correct incorrectly named NHS hospital.

[????]

Mick what's your issue here? I am not making a point, I'm actually saying that I believe treatment quality is the same but diagnosis is slower under the NHS. I have paid for specialist consultants for my little girl for some more or less instant results rather than a 3 month plus wait and I'd do it again. No political points going on here. When I go to the GP i'm an NHS patient.

[????]

Ladymuck Wrote:

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> ???? Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

>

> > Treatment is just as good on the NHS

>

> I would go so far as to say that it can sometimes

> be better. I recently accompanied someone very

> dear to me to the Cardiologist at

> Kings...excellent...gave us all the time in the

> world. When I had accompanied that same person to

> a private cardiologist (BUPA employee benefit),

> the cardiologist always seemed more interested in

> regularly checking his Rolex and twiddling with

> his jewel encrusted cufflinks rather than

> listening to his patient. The private

> cardiologist also made an incorrect diagnosis

> causing unnecessary additional stress.

Anectdotal and value laden Lady M...many/most? consultants do both and I think the NHS has a list of failed consultants.

[Mick Mac]

We (immediate family) have had excellent treatment on both NHS and Private.

Is BUPA worth it - probably not, but my daughter has had some treatment via the policy which was necessary and quickly dealt with.

My wife has had NHS help that was potentially life saving.

I would not call myself an NHS patient - who knows what the future holds. Its worth having a private policy as an insurance but their prices are extortionate.

[Mick Mac]

???? Wrote:

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> Mick what's your issue here?

> When I go to the GP i'm an NHS

> patient.

Stating yourself to be an NHS patient suggested to me that you have not used the private healthcare route.

But you are a supporter of both the NHS and of private healthcare. Just like me.

[????]

Absolutely, I'm not driven by dogma on this.

[ontheedge]

It's not a choice the majority have!

[????]

Oh the poverty of the people ote. The tests cost ?750...I suspect that in reality that is in the reach of the majority of the population if they chose that route.

[SteveT]

A friend has a dairy herd and if he is found purchasing milk from any outside source he is heavily fined, this is to maintain hygeneic standards and has always worked well.

Should a similar system be administered to the NHS consultants?

[The Minkey]

My dad's wife spent 2 years being dicked around by her GP getting progressively more and more unwell. By the time her armpit glands had swollen to the size of golfballs, and her GP could no longer blame it on the stress of looking after an autistic child, she was sent for a biopsy. It finally occurred to my dad to get her seen by a private consultant on the medical insurance he had with work. Blood tests were ordered and within just a week she was confirmed as having Lupus, an auto-immune disease.

Unfortunately, by this time, her condition had deteriorated so badly, she found climbing the stairs a huge ordeal, let alone looking after two boys under five. So I went back up to help out.

Once diagnosis had been achieved, her treatment was in the hands of the NHS and we can't really fault them from there on in. Shortly after this, she reached a critical point, facing the collapse of her kidneys, and had to be put on dialysis which gave her kidneys chance to unclog. This was the turning point after which she finally began to improve.

Point being, had the medical insurance not enabled them to see someone who was able to reach a correct diagnosis, she'd probably be dead. If she's been taken seriously sooner, instead of her twat of a GP putting it down to the stress of looking after an autistic child, she'd never have become so critically ill. Speedy diagnosis is no small thing.

[Marmora Man]

A simple calculation will show you are paying approximately ?1500 per person for the NHS - so ?3,000 a year for a family of four is not too bad.

I value private medicine for its speed - recently had severe headaches which could have been a symptom of something very serious.

NHS GP - change current hypertension medication and come back in four weeks.

Private nueurologist - immediate CT scan and report within 25 minutes. No tumour, no TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack[?]) - a sort of minor stroke. Problem identified to be Cluster Headaches - strangely a seasonal disorder that can be ameliorated by some very strong and targeted painkillers.

The private health insurance cost was valued by me for the swift peace of mind it gave me and family.

[PeckhamRose]

NHS saved my life many times and as a result when I die I leave my body to London Anatomy Office for medical students to throw up over....

I have had a major op on NHS and it was traumatic and the aftercare was dreadful, not from the consultants but some of the nurses as well as the health and hygiene, or lack of it, in the hospital concerned.

However, no matter how rich I was I still wouldn't go private.

[Marmora Man]

PR - why wouldn't you ever go private? You give no reason. On the face of it the NHS appear to have let you down or, at least, not served you well.

If you can afford private healthcare you take up a private bed, in a private hospital and are treated by privately employed doctors & nurses. THis frees up the publicly funded NHS to treat someone else rather sooner than otherwise might have been the case.

A good argument could be made that those with the resources should "go private" to reduce their load on the NHS.

[SteveT]

A good argument could be made that those with the resources should "go private" to reduce their load on the NHS

One might also argue that as we have paid in for all our lives we possibly should get value for money Marmora Man, and not ignored for months on end before receiving the diagnosis.

If private practice is the way forward why aren't we able to opt out and what is being collected from our purse for the NHS can be reclaimed and paid towards the privateers exhorbitant costs.

[The Minkey]

I just reread your post, SteveT. ?220 a month - wow! He must be on some kind of deluxe package. The last time I looked, I pay in the region of ?700 per annum. It comes direct out of my pay so I'm not entirely sure of the exact amount.

Since starting to utilize the insurance, 18 months ago, where I've had a choice of getting expensive investigative work done on the NHS or private, I've gone private. Like Marmora ManI figured it freed up NHS resources.

[SteveT]

He is self employed so does not benefit from a block insurance package as a larger company would.

[sophiesofa]

Presumably he's not a risk free client e.g. has known medical problems or is a smoker etc.

I was fortunate enough to have kidney surgery privately, diagnosed at 17 I was covered under my dads work health care. Obviously I don't know exactly how it would have panned out under the NHS but it took about a year of many tests privately so on the NHS it presumably would have taken a lot longer. By then I would have been too ill to carry on studying etc. and it would have had a significantly worse impact on the quality of my life. I can't afford private healthcare but if I ever could I would do it I think.