NHS or Private | Imamother

amother

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 3:27 pm

For those living in the U.K. how do you manage when you have a medical question?
Do you go to a surgery or do you go to A and E (depending on the importance of your situation)?
Do you go to a walk in centre?
Do you have medical insurance?

I have discussed the issue of medical insurance with DH many times and he does not want to take out medical insurance because he says it is so expensive and unnecessary.

But our surgery is one of the worst ones in fact when I wanted to just make a phone appointment to speak to a doctor yesterday, the receptionist was so rude that I said bye and put the phone down in the middle of the call.

Another thing is the nearest hospital used to be very good but since Covid, it is really bad.
Do you think most people go private? If yes, is there a medical insurance that is not hugely expensive?
TIA

amother

Bluebell

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 3:36 pm

We have medical insurance because I had a non life threatenimg issue that impacted on my quality of life and took months on NHS to sort
So I value it before holidays, meat etc

But u r mixing up:
1. usual UK health insurance where u need to have a gp referral to access a specialist and
2. using a private GP

amother

Taupe

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 3:38 pm

I live in SH and go to Cranwich Road Surgery. Very happy there. We’d only go to a&e for emergencies, the wait is not fun. I’ve had no problem with the local NHS hospital (Homerton). And no, most people do not go private.

On the other hand, my family’s experience with NHS dentistry has been dreadful so we do that privately.

amother

Winterberry

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 3:59 pm

Where are you located?

Most drs receptionists are rude. Its awful but you have to know how to work the system

At my drs, you have to call at 8.30 for emergency on the day appt.
A dr will call you back and discuss, and only then book you in for same day appt.

For regular routine you have to call at 1, and wait and wait and then book a phone call appt!
If youre lucky 2week wait, if youre not, 4 or 5 week wait.
Once the dr calls you theyl decide if its an issue 'serious' enough to see you in person!

amother

Bluebell

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 4:00 pm

U are best off speaking to a broker. Yitzi feimer is well recommended

But remember with health insurance it's often rarely used . To be a decent price each person on it has an excess. If you use it alot depending on your plan the price could go up. Depending on the plan u might not have access to any doctor or hospital.

For day to day, it's really about having a good gp. To get around the receptionists I ask all my Q's via a webpage my doctor has

amother

Mauve

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 4:04 pm

Speak to yitzi feiner as mentioned above. One benefit I find of my health insurance (Bupa) is the access to the free Babylon gp service. I've had many appointments for minor things online and even had specialist referrals done through the nurse so I could straight away see Bupa approved specialist.
However I also use another private gp service for ky children but that is £80/visit not covered by insurance.
I use NHS GP for repeat prescription and immunisation and BC. Impossible to get appointments. For true emergency NHS is best. When my 10 day old had 40 fever you bet we were at royal free a+e

amother

Lemonchiffon

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 4:12 pm

amother OP wrote:

I am in London

You need to weigh up what you will use the health insurance for and what it will cover, speak to someone knowledgeable like Yitzi Feiner as others mentioned.
Sometimes the premiums are so high and then they will increase every year when you use it that you are better off paying out of pocket for the few things a year you want to use it for, a couple of scans or so.

amother

Ultramarine

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 4:13 pm

If you are in golders green and you are want medical insurance just in order to see a gp quicker you can try jdoc. I signed my family up during covid because my surgery was impossible and I was pregnant and had a baby and my surgery was making me very nervous. Bh its basically back to normal now with same day appointments so I didn't renew the jdoc for this year

Eta: I'm sure you can join even if you dont live in gg, I just said that because they are located on gg road

amother

Oak

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 6:01 pm

The NHS have amazing specialists in most hospitals. I guess we're very lucky to have the best hospital in Manchester called St Mary's, it's about 25 minutes away.

I'd be wary to go private just because they're often not as experienced as the NHS specialists as they see far fewer patients.
Most people in the UK don't go private.
My son has a medical condition and we've been thrilled with his care bh.
My doctor surgery is a bit of a pain to get an appointment for that day, but I always manage if I call early enough (between 8 and 8.30am)

I was worried about something the other day about my son, related to his medical condition. I found the number of a nurse who specialises in his specific condition (which is pretty rare) on the top of one of his appointment letters, they took all the information and had someone call me that day (about an hour later!) to review his scans and see if it was urgent or not.

amother

Snapdragon

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 6:27 pm

Can you change dr surgery? Ask your neighbours or friends which one they are happy with

Hospital, you don't have to go to the one most local to you if its not great

A & E is for emergency only

If you can't get a gp appointment call 111 and see if they can get you an appointment somewhere. Sometimes at a walk in centre.

Insurance isn't really for gp appointments.

London is a big place, maybe if you post your area ppl here could help you further. You're anonymous anyway and so are most posters on this thread.

amother

Lemonchiffon

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 6:28 pm

amother Oak wrote:

Almost all private specialists work for NHS too so they don’t see fewer patients, in fact most of the top consultants in the NHS see patients privately and will do surgeries privately but you will have less time to wait. So most of the time you can get the same care privately as you would through NHS but you’ll get treated faster.
ETA some private doctors will have a consultation with you privately and then push you in to be treated under the NHS faster.

amother

Lemonchiffon

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 6:34 pm

amother Snapdragon wrote:

No one goes to A &E unless they have to, no one wants to wait in a dirty packed waiting room for 3+ hours.
Either way you can’t get emergency care privately

amother

Oak

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 6:54 pm

amother Lemonchiffon wrote:

That's interesting but then op doesn't need insurance, you go private for certain things as they come up.
If we can afford to wait for treatment, and get it free then we do. My son was on a waiting list for a very non urgent procedure, we waited because we could.
My sil had her d&c done privately because she wanted it faster, but it cost her about £2.5k so only if you can afford it then its worth it. The NHS really aren't so bad, you need to be pushey at times but we've been treated very well.

amother

Bone

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 7:19 pm

I am looking into private medical insurance and we are looking at Aviva, so far that gives me the best options. But speak to a broker they will explain you everything and guide you what's best for your family.
This year I have spent £1500 just for going privately to specialists for my kids. This is still without surgery. 2 of my kids needed surgery and one was quoted as £2500 and one was £4700. I didn't do any of them privately and Bh the more expensive one was more urgent and had to be done within 4-6 weeks.
Just by the way, nothing is perfect, even when paying a lot to go see a consultant at GOSH for one of my kids, I still waited 1 hour after the appointment time. Also, it is not best to go to a private hospital because they won't have all specialties on call so if you have surgery and suddenly have a heart attack then they might not have a cardiologist in the hospital at all. Best is if you want private care then do private care at an NHS hospital. Many of then have that option.
Try to find out which hospitals and doctor surgeries are best in your area so at least you are getting the best of what you have.

amother

Lemonchiffon

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 7:53 pm

amother Oak wrote:

It really depends, that’s why you have to know which providers cover which things.
The NHS isn’t terrible and you will get treated eventually but it’s getting worse all the time and that’s what people are worried about, I’ve heard recently that for cancer treatments they are missing targets for starting treatment on time.
I’ve also heard an increase in cases of missed diagnoses for cancer where people were diagnosed too late because doctors ignored their symptoms when they went to seek help earlier. It’s very worrying.
Yes for something like a d&c which one would prefer to have faster and you can afford it go private where as with the NHS you will get it but perhaps a few days later.
I know someone who had a fracture and wanted to get surgery done privately and the private doctor said he will only do it 5 days later because he won’t work the whole bank holiday weekend so she did it under the NHS where they did it two days later.
However I needed surgery a few years ago and I waited 18 months for it, I had to have my pre ops done twice because they couldn’t get me a surgery date within the deadline of three months of doing the first set of pre ops.

Ruchi

Tue, Jan 17 2023, 8:21 pm

If you have spare money to pay the high costs for private medical insurance then it's definitely highly recommended to go for it.
As others have mentioned already, it's very important to discuss all the various options and plans with a very knowledgeable Insurance Agent.

I know some people whose insurance covers seeing a regular gp privately.