NHS paying for staff to have access to private health

My husband had his radiotherapy sessions at a private hospital on the NHS. The consultant said it was because our local NHS hospital was overwhelmed.

No, it's not ethical. Bear in mind that many people have key jobs. Pouring money into the private sector is not the way out of this.

I worked in the nhs as a nurse for over thirty years and have had numerous physical problems and not once have I ever been seen quicker

It’s not just nhs staff, I was a nurse in the nhs for over 30 years but had to pay over ten thousand for a hip replacement whereby someone I know had it done privately on the nhs.
I don’t blame her it was the fault of the nhs and I would never expect to have it done privately just because I worked for them.

Well if you work in a supermarket you get staff discounts , if you work in the travel industry you may get some free flights, there are plenty of jobs where you get such perks. Getting decent healthcare if you work in healthcare should be a given. The fact that it’s not always available for the rest of us is a political issue and not the fault of the staff.

I don't agree with you smoothie. The NHS is an employer and other employers provide their staff with private healthcare to minimise absence (as well as being a perk for the individuals). By minimising absence, the NHS is able to provide a better service for the public. It's not ideal, but the people working within the NHS aren't responsible for underfunding. I'm sure the staff would love to have shorter waiting lists, but they can't do that if their staff are ill.

Incidentally, how do you feel about state school teachers paying for their children and grandchildren to have private education?

I can’t see how this is anything other than their saying, through their actions, that they shouldn’t have to be subjected to the kind of care that they themselves provide to the public, because they, as a profession, wouldn’t be able to cope…

I don’t believe that anyone, anywhere, is able to cope and function at their best when they must wait 14 weeks to see a doctor. But if it’s good enough for the public I think it should be good enough for them, and nothing more.

So, to answer your question - no, that does not seem ethical to me. I think to say that it is indeed ethical would require heaps of mental gymnastics. I can see how it would appear so in that way, but again it would require much bending and twisting in order to justify the different treatment.

But this, and what I wrote above, has been stated likely millions of times. Sadly, it’s nothing new. And now I’m feeling hopeless, so I’m off to look at pictures of puppies

The other alternative is I suppose to let them linger on waiting lists, close wards and shut down services.

And then everyone would have to wait even longer.

I think the NHS is being sensible to do this for its staff.

Given staff shortages and the waiting lists exacerbated by covid, it makes sense to prioritise treating nhs staff

We could of course have a government that prioritised the nhs/public services…..

This has been going on for a while. Tony Blair was very keen on private and state health care. It makes sense.

www.theguardian.com/society/2006/feb/16/health.politics

NHS staff are often able to be fast-tracked through NHS services. I suppose it could be seen as unfair, but if it means a nurse with a broken ankle can get physio that lets her get back on the ward a few weeks sooner - then that is a sensible use of resources. If off work and needing surgery - then paying for private care could well be less than the cost of paying a locum/agency staff for the time needed if they were on the waiting list.

Twice when I have had surgery I've been 'upgraded' to the private wing in our hospital by the surgeon....I'm assuming its because I'm a Nurse but maybe not ?‍♀️.... my SIL is a sister in our local private hospital...the majority of surgery lists are nhs these days

I had my bunion op in a private hospital which is used for NHS patients to reduce waiting lists. Worked out well for me. When I worked as a nurse didn't get seen privately ever! DD2 is not being seen for her problems privately either (nurse) and sometimes is off work with them.

BigBettha1 - it stopped fairly soon after that. 2 factor were in play;
1. the much longer waiting lists, so that we could be seen as 'jumping the queue'. If you are fast tracked through a system were the wait isn't long, it's a small perk; being fast tracked when waiting lists were 18 months is more visible.
2. the fragmentation into 'internal competition'. When I started in the NHS if you worked for hospital X, you got seen quickly there. Later, if you worked there, but lived in area Y, especially if area Y didn't have a contract with hospital X, it got messy.

Of course it's wrong, but it's a sign of how bad things have become.

And yes, purchasing from private providers has been the norm for a long time now. I hate it, but felt obliged to accept a referral to our local private hospital a few years ago. The local commissioning group had handed over all joint replacements to them, and insisting on a NHS referral would have been awkward for everyone, as it would have taken up precious admin time to organise.

It was very interesting. They had separate waiting rooms. In the NHS room, instead of the usual posters about health promotion and support groups, all of the posters were advertising their services 'only £x for such-and-such service' (nonsense of course, because anything difficult would be referred to the NHS).There were separate menus; and NHS patients were last for all non-urgent care, such as washing, physio, and discharge.
The nursing care was OK, but not the quality I was used to in the NHS.
My follow-up appointment has been re-arranged 4 times at the last count - it is now a year since I should have been seen.

Please don't think I am complaining, I am fortunate to have had care, and to be doing OK. It's just not a good or efficient system, but it suits our current government.

Fast tracking staff for treatment has been happening for at least the last 30 years. I got fast tracked for physio for a shoulder injury that was stopping me doing my job properly. Similarly purchasing treatment from private facilities has been around for around 25 years, in particular for joint replacement.

I added similar to a Staff Survey in my Hospital.
I know quite a few staff who are languishing on a waiting list, get the staff fixed, less sick time and fitter staff.

I know several people who have had treatment through the NHS at our local private hospital.
To my knowledge this has been happening for the past 8 years.

When I started Nurse Training back in 1979 whatever we needed as nursing or medical staff we were put at the top of the list. I don't know when this stopped being the practice but this initiative is the same thing enabling vital staff to get back to work.

The NHS has sent me to a private hospital before for a suspected blood clot

If that money wouldn't reduce waiting times for everyone but treating NHS staff privately would, then its the right thing

I don’t know about Harley st, but agree that staff should be treated quickly. They are short handed enough.
My recent hip replacement was carried out in a small private hospital on the Nhs. The nhs referral a year before had been lost and they required a new referral with a further long wait.
As I could hardly walk the gp surgery suggested other options were possible.
I saw a dr at the end of December, tests were done, another appt in January fir results and operation date for mid April agreed.
I struggled with it in principle but was in too much pain to refuse. I am no longer in pain and very grateful.

I agree with you. One of my sisters was fast-tracked through the system when she had problems with her back caused by making beds and lifting patients.

I'd consider that a fair exchange based on the hard work they put in through the Pandemic. I know lots of people who work in the NHS and if they have something wrong with them, they are often fast tracked within the system or even to consultants who work privately within the hospital. It is a community, much like the services, the police or fire service, they help each other out. This is just a step onwards from that and at least they aren't holding up the system for those on a very long waiting list.

I've had two MRI scans over the last couple of weeks. I was told that they might take place in a Nuffield hospital (they didn't in the end), so it's not just NHS staff who are being treated in the private sector. MRI machines are expensive, so it makes sense to call on the private sector if they happen to have spare capacity and the NHS is trying to reduce waiting times.

It may be expedient to do so but is it morally right?
However 3 cheers once again from a personal point of view, las evening my GD was bitten on the face by a friend’s dog.
The local hospital got it cleaned out and got her on iv antibiotics and sent her to a hospital with a maxilla facial unit where she was seen immediately and offered the choice of admission and treatment in theatre today or be brave and have it stitched there and then.
She just wanted to be home, she lives with me, so she had it done and was home with me by 3am.

The above posters are correct. Whether it is ethical or not, any organisation or company literally can't afford to have a lot of its work force inactive. It costs them more in the long run.