This is the future - forget that NHS shyte.

Long story short, have a duff shoulder.
Been with physiotherapist for several weeks and he was concerned over a few things and decided that I needed to see a shoulder specialist.
Saw consultant yesterday, 15 minutes after seeing consultant I have 4 xrays taken, 30 minutes after that I'm in an MRI scanner.
Consultant rang me last night approx 8pm, wants to see me Friday for steroid injections.

So, moral of the story is get yourselves covered privately.
I've had private cover for the entire family now for over 10 years and I do think its well worth it.

 

.........If I had a shoulder problem I'd see a shoulder specialist on the NHS

Shaun

 

Interesting.

How much have you paid over 10 years and how much do you think this episode would have cost if you paid out of your own pocket?

 

Put it this way, as required by private care, you need a referral.
I tried to see my GP, but was told he takes the entire moth of June off on leave - well for some.

So his stand in was a wee Indian woman.

She told me I had arthritis and it was normal.

 

I've haven't paid aything out of my own pocket - employment perk.

So far then I guess i'd be looking at 1K if paying myself.

 

Do you not have to pay a BIK payment via your tax return? My wife gets insurance via her work and she has to make this payment.

My point really was that people often ask me if it's worth having private insurance (as I'm a doc)

The advice I often give to younger people is to put what would have been the yearly payment in a high interest (I know) account or ISA etc.

If you can be disciplined and do this when you are in your twenties then by the time you are in your thirties you will have over £10k, in your forties £20k etc.

It could be that you are in your fifties by the time you need to claim and £30k+ would buy you a lot of private medical care. An OPD appt with a consultant costs say £200, a MRI can be had for £500, a knee replacement £8k, bypass surgery £12k.

You could be lucky and never really claim in which case you could end up with £50k+ in a pot.

Just another way of looking at it. If I didn't get insurance as a perk through my wife's work then that's what I would probably do.

Hope your shoulder gets better

 

Or you might be dead or on some list for an extended time in pain as you never took out private medical care
I get mine free through work.

 

Thank you, and yes, I do have a BIK payment, but its not a lot in the great scheme of things.

 

I also can have "free" private medical cover through work for me and the family. At the moment I've opted out as it would cost me ~£1k a year in tax. Maybe as I get a bit older I might change my mind. So for now it's the good old NHS for me & I do have a bit put away if I really needed something doing quickly.

 

it's a taxable benefit so not entirely free...

 

I have to be very careful what I say so I'll just state fact.

I am a clinician in the industry and opt to pay for my own private healthcare plan with BUPA.

 

I reading between the lines here and therefore you think the NHS is a bag of shyte

 

Strangely enough I work in the NHS and have no private health care insurance, you can read between those lines too LOL

Shaun

 

Yes, but I would imagine that you are able to short cut the process/queues.

I have no doubt in my mind, that if I had to repeat the scenario of yesterday, then the MRI scan, in particular, would have been months down the line.

 

I have a private dentist but used to go to a NHS dentist. I feel so much better looked after by the private dentist. 3 times the cost but I don't mind paying it knowing my teeth are really looked after and taken care of.

 

I got an MRI scan on my shoulder less than two weeks after it was looked at on the NHS.

Paid £1000s for private dental care and realised it was a rip off so NHS now.

I pay for it, I will use it.

 

Yes.

You can get an opinion on most things by just picking up the phone ie you'll have a mate who is a consultant in just about every specialty.

When I was on a long haul holiday one of my children came out in a strange rash. I emailed pics to a consultant paediatrician mate and hey presto five minutes later I have a diagnoses and treatment plan.

One of the few (actually only) 'perk' of being a doc

 

Have you ever worked in a private hospital? Trust me, you don't want to actually be sick and be in a private hospital.

And I'm being very careful about what I say.

 

I'm glad you have the contacts Shaun. But the failing of the system is that you shouldn't have to know someone to be looked after.

After working to middle grade in hospital Maxillofacial Surgery I've got plenty of good contacts as well... and I'll continue to pay my BUPA subs so that when I do have to go in for elective treatment I don't wait for weeks (months) on end for my appointment. (I do believe it's a disciplinary offence these days to push someone through ahead of others without good reason).

Furthermore if I do have to go under the knife, I don't wish to share two overworked nurses and HCAs with 24 other patients.

 

I know what you're getting at there and I'm with you.

There is a huge difference between needing elective treatment for something like a shoulder problem such as the OP and being bloody ill and needing emergency treatment.

The NHS emergency services are generally excellent, if a little overworked.

 

I can understand this to a degree and I assume its to do with skill levels in general or something.

My wife had an operation about a year ago and I witnessed an ambulance take a patient to an NHS hospital under 999 conditions.
I don't know what was actually wrong though, I did ask, but they wouldn't tell.

Anyway, back to wife.
Basically NHS surgeon doing both NHS & private stuff.

Wife has surgery in private clinic, and the after care I have to say is second to none.
Meals cooked on site, and delivered to patients while still hot in their private rooms.
Choice of meal - albeit from a limited selection, however quality of food great, and not sausage rolls and beans that the NHS serve (friend was in hospital recently and this was on the 'menu')

Hospital spotless, and please no one take this the wrong way, but not a foreign doctor or nurse in sight and therefore no communication 'problems'

 

My wife is terminally ill and I can't fault the level of care she has received from the NHS. I honestly can't see how much better care she would have received had we had private medical care. She has been put on a 2nd line cancer drug that isn't on the NICE list but I think they've approved her funding on the basis that they've never prescribed it before and they want to see what happens. I guess if we were private then we wouldn't have had to wait for approval.

I think for critical or terminal illnesses private or NHS probably doesn't matter. Its more the non life threatening stuff that can be a bit iffy. Least that is my experience of the NHS.

 

The newgalaxy

I don't have any contacts, my kids waited the prescribed time for grommets etc along with the rest.

If I treat my family or friends then my Trust consider that a disciplinary offence as I am denying my NHS patients my time.........

I too went to Reg in Max-Fac

Shaun

 

By the looks of it we have 1 or 2 doctors here replying on this thread? This is Scoobynet; doctors drive Subaru's?

 

Not sure what is special about a steroid injection into a shoulder. This jobbing GP will sometimes do one half an hour after a patient telephones to ask for an appointment which they can have on the day. I don't inject steroids into shoulders first line though as the risk:benefit at first presentation is not favourable IMHO.

Getting a physio or MRI shoulder in a hurry on the NHS is not happening though unless malignancy or complete tendon rupture is suspected.

On the other hand we are paying a solicitor and can't even get his secretary to return our calls after 3 working days.

 

LSherratt, I drive a 10 year old Legacy, it is all the NHS affords

 

John, you need to be sent for retraining! There is a huge benefit to injecting his shoulder on first presentation. A huge benefit to the orthopods bank balance

Funnily enough I've had a similar experience with solicitors recently. They seem to work and live in slow motion

 

So sorry to hear that Edd


I too have had great experiences on the NHS, all my children Born using it and the experience was always brilliant

We don't use it much, but comforting to know it is there

 

As I'm going through a divorce at the moment I have to say my solicitors are ultra efficient and fast, and so they should be for £240 per hour! The real slow motion and incompetent link seems to be the courts.

 

Same here.

My kids wouldn't be here without the NHS, however, we also have private cover through the wife's work.

In ten years its only been used three times.

Edd - how's the wife doing?