Nhs or Private Care.

Our local health authority uses private care for many operations, I had both my hip and my knee replaced at a private hospital under the NHS.
This might sound great, and in my case it was. BUT, if things go wrong, private hospitals do not often have intensive care facilities, this means a blue light trip to casualty.

I started off private and reverted to NHS when they told me I needed major surgery. DH would have stayed with private but I don't think he understood about emergencies and having to be transferred back to an NHS hospital anyway.

Private for minor stuff NHS for major. There's not the accessibility for intensive care in private hospitals. Minor stuff if you can afford it and you're not blocking up the waiting lists.

I have a dilemma as I may need a new knee at some time in the future and I had decided to pay so that I could choose my time so that D can come in school holidays to look after H. Now I am not so sure.If I can't choose, H would have to go into respite care and I would have to balance the cost but he would be unhappy not to be in his own home.

Private care only when forced to by the inadequacies of the NHS. I have just put a longish post on the GP thread about how DH was left with an undiagnosed problem and in excruciating pain for months by our GPs, without any kind of proper pain relief. When I asked for a referral for him we were told it could mean a wait of six weeks. So we went privately, (which saved the surgery a lot of money). the specialist then recommended a completely different type of medication, which the GP happily prescribed and which had the pain under control in two days. His problem was then diagnosed and treated.

Whatever the deficiencies of private care it is considerable better than getting no treatment at all from the NHS

Private care means speed - at the moment. But that is all.

I went privately to have my hip op and it cost me an arm and a leg, but I was committed to conducting a very prestigious musical event and wanted to be well enough for this. The irony is that, although I had my surgery in a timely manner, it has not been successful in stopping the pain. Hmm.

I know that the same private hospital is also providing a service to the NHS and many patients have their surgery there.

I hated the private hospital where I was - the staff were very over-stretched and one of them was frankly rude. I was concerned about the absence of proper medical cover, and if I needed surgery again I would definitely opt for the NHS. There were problems with pain relief after the surgery (because of my response to the pain killers) and they failed to get on top of this - in the nearby NHS hospital there is a pain team who would have been on it. I was ill after my surgery - I went into AF and it was thought that it might be due to a pulmonary embolism. When I went to the NHS hospital for the scan the radiographer made some comment along the lines of "We are picking up the Nuffield pieces again."

I would rather be somewhere with wider facilities and an ICU.

I totally agree with Yogadatti, go to NHS for major treatment but stay in the private wing, where in my case, my snoring doesn't keep the whole ward awake. In the past, if I've really wanted answers quickly I have seen a consultant privately rather than wait weeks for an appointment.

Private care means speed and free car parking!

The NHS at its best is excellent, but at its worst diabolical.

I think a lot of you are talking about small private hospitals and I agree about the lack of facilities. However , I have a neurological problem and actually many NHS hospitals do not actually even have a neurological department and have to transfer out to bigger NHS hospitals in London anyway. Has anyone been treated at the big private hospitals in London where they do have ICU?

I think this depends partly on where you live. Our NHS hospital is not one of the better ones and I have, on three occasions, had to transfer my husband to a private hospital because of the lack of care such as urine bags not being checked or changed and a lack of doctors. On one occasion the wrong size catheter had been inserted and he was on the verge of complete kidney failure. The Orthopedic clinic is a joke where you are referred for a knee problem but seen by a shoulder specialist. The private hospitals near us all have doctors on duty 24/7 and we have had nothing but excellent care. However as we get older we are facing the point where we will not be able to afford private insurance which for someone , such as my husband, who suffers from chronic ill health is a problem. The best medical care he received was in a small town in America where he was in ICU for 9 days and in hospital for a month. However the bill was over £250000. Even the best American health insurance wouldn't have covered that. I think the NHS is a wonderful concept but it does not always work properly.

Yoga all the major private hospitals in London e.g. BUPA Cromwell, Wellington, London Clinic, London Bridge, have an ICU.

I've always stayed with the NHS except for a major op I had 19 months ago. In that case the letter of referral to the surgeon had a one year expiry, and after 11 months of the hospital refusing to answer letters, emails or phone calls asking how long the waiting list was, or even if I was on it, I gave up and went private.

I wish I was in the position to have private health care, fortunately my health is very good so I don't need it but may do in the future, just far to expensive.

I do agree about the orthopaedic nonsense. When I fractured my foot I was seen by a guy who deals with knees. He cocked it up completely as he only saw one fracture and missed the other more complicated one. By the time it was identified (by going private!) it was too late to retrieve the situation without complicated surgery that has an unsure outcome and long recovery. I have settled for what I have got - that is pain and walking with a stick.

My response to previous orthro surgery was seriously bad, so I do not feel able to take that risk.

I have private insurance because I do not wish to be in a ward with other people if I am ill. I think the NHS is a wonderful institution in theory but, in spite of Cameron's promises, it is becoming more and more difficult to access services. For example, we have a 4 week wait to see a GP, any GP, not a specific one and then in order to have a referral letter to see a consultant privately because the waiting list is so,long and I am in acute pain, I have just paid £60 and the letter has not been delivered on time! I tell myself, somewhat hypocritically I know, that by using my private medicine, I am freeing up an appointment for someone who cannot afford this.

i can't afford private insurance so it's the nhs all the way for me.

they've been absolutely fantastic here in poole and i can't praise the hospital enough. i've had several operations there, one major, and was looked after extremely well.

after the major operation i had to revisit the hospital every year for blood tests and scans for 10 years and i always had fantastic treatment.

however i couldn't use poole hospital for my knee replacement op and had to go to bournemouth .................. what a horrible place and what horrible treatment i received.

i really could do with a second knee replacement op but won't have it done as i'd have to go back to bournemouth and don't want to get the same treatment. i can't afford to have it done privately.

can't fault my doctor's surgery either. ok i have to wait for an appointment [we do it online] sometimes but, if you want a telephone consultation it's booked there and then for when you want it.

sorry if i'm not supposed to be naming hospitals but i feel strongly that we should be able to share our opinions here.

When my son broke his leg we went to the local NHS hospital, where he had to wait 25 hours to have it put in plaster. When the nurse doing it had finished, even I, aas an ex nurse, could see it didn't look right, but she wouldn't listen. I took him to the local private hospital the next day, and saw the consultant whose care he was technically under in the NHS hospital (but hadn't seen him). He redid the plaster and commented that if he had stayed in the original one for six weeks, he could have been left permanently disabled.

We prioritise private health insurance above the luxuries in life, because waiting for months in pain for an operation would destroy a large part of the time we have left, and because I cannot bear the noise, lack of privacy, restricted visiting, car parking charges, food, and quite frankly the dirt of the local hospital. You also are treated copletely differenltly, your views and wishes are taken into account in a private hospital, rather than being talked to like a child who doesn't need to be involved in their care.

The NHS is dangerously inderfunded, and undervalued by HM Government. I would happily pay 1p more on income tax if it could be ring fenced for more frontline staff (pipe dreams I know!)

I'd happily pay more in tax too.

The NHS has provided the following services for my family:-

*2 daughters safely delivered
*3 grandchildren safely delivered
*Husband's life saved when he had a heart attack
*5 major abdominal operations for me, some of which were close calls,
involving a total of around 12 weeks hospital care, after care and many tests.
*Cataract operation performed 6 weeks after first visit to GP for referral

I can't begin to calculate the financial cost if done privately, and the human value to us is inestimable. The only complaint I have is about those who seem to want to destroy such a wonderful service, and privatise everything.

I think there's a lot of fobbing off, cancellation and waiting time for NHS orthopaedic surgery e.g. hip and knee replacement. The longer you have to wait, the less fit you are and, therefore, the longer it takes to recover. There is almost a built in delay to recovery. Physiotherapists have average expected recovery times and are reluctant to acknowledge that, if you're otherwise fit, you will be able to do more towards a quicker recovery. A friend who's a karate instructor has been told that after hip surgery, "We'll have you back to work in six months!" He told them that as he's self-employed he'll be back in less than half that time. He'll do it too.

I have been treated on the NHS for breast cancer for13 years. 4 years ago it spread to my spine, collar bone and arm pit. The NHS did not seem to know how to progress. They would start me on one treatment and then stop it and try something else. I really needed chemo but for some reason it was not offered (I have my own feeling on this, I think as I was 64 they didn't want to spend the money!) I was going nowhere except to the grave .Luckily I was covered on my husband's private health insurance which we continued paying when he retired. Within the space of one year I had a huge tumour removed from my spine, my arm pit was surgically treated, I had radiotherapy for the collar bone area, 3 lots of chemo and hormone therapy which I continue to have. I have now been in remission for 8 months. I am very angry that other people may not have the choice I had and that they have to put up with poor treatment on the NHS. I know and sympathise with all the arguments about shortage of staff and facilities but until this vile government is outed things will go from bad to worse.

That's an awful story pambo. Thank goodness you were treated appropriately in the end. Onwards and upwards now.

Pam - that is a dreadful tale. I am so glad that you hot the care you needed.

Or even got!

Private for minor things, physiotherapy, eyes etc. Here we have well regulated private clinics and so you are not pushing others down the waiting list so that salves my socialist conscience!

So sorry to hear of your experience pambo. Good wishes for the future.,as you say, it's hard luck on those who don't have your resources.