private medical insurance

[Connemmara]

Hi - I waited 4 weeks ago in a NHS Casualty hospital for attention for 6 and half hours with a broken shoulder - now I am considering paying monthly for private care - anybody help me where and how to go about this - thank you. I know of a case of a little girl who waited 10 hours after a minor car accident - I know this is part of the cuts but I could not stand waiting in A&E for that amount of time ever again.

[Bbbananas]

We do quite a few private referrals - and the private hospitals always insist on a GP referral letter before they will make an appointment with or for the patient.

[Sqad]

salla....for Christ's sake....all you have to do is to get the GP to write the referral letter and the patient can pick it up......no big deal.

[Bbbananas]

Who's saying it's a big deal??? It makes no difference from my point of view, work-wise.
All I'm saying is that it p1sses me off when they expect to come first, before all our NHS patients.

[Sqad]

salla...I still don't understand you....."come first" How?

[Bbbananas]

I type referrals right? I always do urgent & suspected cancer referrals first - whether NHS or private. Then I do the rest of them in order that the doctor dictates them. However the patients who are being referred privately expect their referrals to be typed or dictated the same day and to be processed before NHS referrals.

Surely that's clear?

[Sqad]

LOL...you are getting annoyed with me.


I would expect that too....I pay NHS as well as Private and if it was urgent i would want it the same day whether NHS or Private.

GP's need to pull their fingers out as well as ancillary staff....but....they are public sector workers.....so what is the hurry?

[DEN53]

Salla - me thinks Sqad got the brush off from the lady Red Arrows pilot (:o)

[Bbbananas]

It's got nothing to do with not wanting to hurry or dally - I process all referrals quickly and properly. But we are NHS, I work for the NHS - I do not give priority to private patients. The patients do not pay me, the private hospitals do not pay my wages.

I did say sqad, that if it were urgent - then NHS or private, it would be done the same day. I'm talking about routine.

[Sqad]

Den....LOL....tell you about her later.(She couldn't get enough of me;-))

[Bbbananas]

yes - why are you back so early? I thought you'd be in there for the rest of the day (and night if you struck lucky..........). Have you got an evening rendevous?

[DEN53]

Was she not impressed with your Olympic size swimming pool and room for a pony?
hahaha

[Sqad]

Ha! Hah...I gave her an account of on returning from a bombing mission of the ball bearing factory at Duisburg, we were set upon by a bunch of M.E 109's and our outer starboard engine was on fire. I told my co.pilot to take the steering wheel as i was going out onto the wing with the fire extinguisher to putout the fire. With no regard to my own safety, i opened the door and looked down 20,000ft to the burning city below and with the wind trying to force me down, i walked along the wing to the engine.
My hands were sore, but i only had the thoughts of my crew i mind as i sallied forth to the burning engine................at which point she seemed to lose interest.....????

[Connemmara]

thanks for all your answers -but they were a perplexed lot - whilst I waited for 4-6 hours perhaps because of the pain I was in and I genuinely believe there were not all the emergency patients they said there were - no way - there were no patients in A&E at 6.00 am and I was told about 10 minutes later by reception it would be a few minutes when they could see me so sorry I am not convinced there were 5-6 hours of emergency patients but believe there was only one junior doctor on but anyway reading the answers - there is no point of me paying private as I did only want it for A&E - God forgive I ever go back there. Never will I forget it.