Probably scaremongering as current medical inflation is c18% and renewal premiums for company paid schemes seems to be averaging +20% and often much more.
At that rate theyâre not going to be viable for much longer and all the complicated stuff will fall back on the nhs (cancer treatment on the nhs is in 90% of cases better, except where you can get access to drugs not okâd by NICE, and in which case if you can get them your prognosis ainât likely to be fantastic)
Problem with the General hospital here in sunny Southampton is that most of the orthopaedic surgeons have got their hands full with all the trauma, especially since it became a major trauma unit for the South. There are very few âelectiveâ beds available at any one time compared to 20 years ago.
Indeed but I bet you anyone who is a âconsultantâ will have a contractual clause that they get x number of hours a week for private practice (which may take place in the General) I shit you not.
All too aware of what happens, and to be honest I donât begrudge them it. I worked on orthopaedics at the general for a number of years and some of the work they do on the trauma wards is nothing short of phenomenal, people that were dying of injuries 20-30 years ago are now being saved and âreconstructedâ by the same surgeons who will do your routine hip and knee replacements. I think it all comes down to trauma trumping elective, an elective hip replacement will 100 times out of a hundred be cancelled for a serious trauma case, which is where the NHS excels, private hospitals see very little trauma, less than 1% of cases in my experience, and we can rattle through routine elective cases at some pace (average hip and knee replacements stay 1 or 2 nights). For good or ill I donât think it will be long before private hospitals are seeing >50% of elective patients, either through increasing numbers of people taking out private insurance or through NHS outsourcing contracts.
In the last 30 years the biggest factor (in my humble opinion) that is scuppering the capacity for the NHS to accommodate elective patients is the lack of rehab and respite facilities for trauma patients to be transferred to, resulting in the dreaded âbed blockingâ but that is a rant for another time 
Nailed it my friend, nailed it.
Have a Google (other search engines are available) on how many politicians have links to private healthcare / take their dollarsâŚ
Given that - Now, how do we fix it?
So you have a career.
You have Medical Insurance.
You change jobs.
You need treatment for something - eg you hurt your knee playing cricket 30 years before.
And guess what?
Your medical insurance wonât pay for pre-existing conditions.
It is a CON
Actually, no. (Edit especially when you leave employment and join a new scheme or take out a new individual policy)
Private Medical Insurance isnât for pre-existing medical conditions.
Once a member of a PMI scheme (or own cover) & you think you have a problem you go and see your GP they may say you need a referral for further investigation/ treatment- youâve then got a choice, NHS or go down the PMI route.
The PMI policy typically has exclusions / limitations on cover. You try and claim and they may say go do one because youâve a pre-ex.
Those conditions donât make them any money so theyâre excluded.
Not a con. Itâs all in the paperwork. The Government donât actually mention that the private market only want to help easy elective surgery with nice pillows, China plates and a wine list when suggesting the private route is the way forward
Not in my case. I have worked for big companies where my medical cover does not exclude previous conditions.
Mrs Bucks was similar (not now though) and has claimed successfully for pre existing issues.
So not all private schemes are the same
This is true - the bigger the scheme, the more likelihood of getting cover esp if MHD
I donât understand why we shouldnt utilise private companies to provide healthcare
If feels like an ideological position rather than a practical one
Ultimately we want world class healthcare provided free of charge. Does it really matter if that care is provided at the general or at the Nuffield?
The NHS is too big and unmanageable. I couldnât imagine that any of the private healthcare companies around the world have more non clinical staff compared to clinical. And because it is this sacred cow, no politician has the courage to do what needs to be done. Wes Streeting makes some of the right noises, but he will be shut down as soon as his arse hits his office chair
Huge swathes of the privatisation process took place during the Blair years, far more than during the preceding tory ones. My ex worked for the NHS for twenty years including the âNew Labourâ era before moving to the Spire place in Tremona Road.
Thatâs where I work now. You want me to put a bogey on her chair or something when Iâm in on Monday?
Sheâs retired now. By an astonishing coincidence, her retirement coincided with her receipt of the divorce settlement.
Many years ago one of my senior colleagues, in a big accountancy firm, was seconded to the NHS to be the acting FD. He was not one of the thousands of accounting / audit folks, but a very experienced Restructuring guy, advising underperforming / distressed / failing businesses.
He came back 18 months later exasperated at the overwhelming levels of waste and inefficiency, which no one seemed to want to even begin to tackle.
The NHS is a brilliant, bonkers, behemoth for sure