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Private Medical Care

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    Private Medical Care

    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
    Autom...Sprow...Canna...Tik banna...Sandwol...But no sera smee

    #2
    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
    Your parents ruin the first half of your life and your kids ruin the second half

    Comment


      #3
      More fit female nurses?

      Comment


        #4
        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
        Blog? What blog...?

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          #5
          Thanks, MrGoof and Malovlio

          I was thinking of giving BUPA a try (or BMI).
          Autom...Sprow...Canna...Tik banna...Sandwol...But no sera smee

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            #6
            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.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by WageSlave
              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

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                #8
                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).

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                  #9
                  I don't have medical insurance, so I'm paying directly. Hopefully it shouldn't be too expensive (starts praying like a zealot).
                  Autom...Sprow...Canna...Tik banna...Sandwol...But no sera smee

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by WageSlave
                    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.
                    I am not qualified to give the above advice!

                    The original point and click interface by
                    Smith and Wesson.

                    Step back, have a think and adjust my own own attitude from time to time

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