BUPA

We don’t have a choice as regards location……both NHS hospital and private hospital are 30 miles away and there’s only one of each! Some small cottage hospitals around the area have a few outpatient clinics, but are mainly for geriatric and maternity care. Nearest A&E is also in town, 30 miles away.

I agree with Monica. People regularly travel from Belfast to Dublin for treatment.

A decision on any hospital treatment, private or NHS, is always going to be part of bigger picture.

I don't expect them to be situated for my convenience but one of the main reasons DD wanted to go to the one close by was due to having to co ordinate child care, work and other caring committments and not having to fork out megabucks plus factor in such long journeys either side of the op. Clearly convenience costs more where we live!

Well, not really, you annot expect private hospitals to be sited for your convenience , if you might never use them.

We have only used private facilties for outpatient visits and it is a round trip of 30 miles each time. In our last house the NHS hospital, which had a private wing was at the bottom of the road, with an alternative 2 miles away. The hospital is only responsible or interested in you when you are on the premises - and that includes the NHS

Really not on the cards for DD. If forking out that sort of money you'd expect absolutely no inconvenience!

Aveline I would have thought a long journey (100 miles?) was worth the journey to get a hip replacement done, if you were in pain and would have a long wait for it to be done on the NHS.

I opted for a hospital 25 miles away when I had a carpal tunnel op because it had the shortest waiting list, three weeks, rather than the one year plus being offered by all the centres nearer to me. It was NHS treatment.

Katek no choice round here. Only one hospital and no point in long travel after such a big op.

We're with Benenden. DH had his cataracts done 2 years ago, he would have still been waiting for treatment on the NHS here in Wales.

BMI are quoting £12-13000 Aveline - still expensive I know, but around 30% cheaper than your daughter has been quoted. Perhaps shopping around may be useful?

excellent not 'very excellent '

That was very excellent Kateykrunch.
I too am with Benenden. I pay for my daughter too. I don't expect her to need it any time soon ( touch wood ) but I just wanted to give Benenden the custom because I think they are very good.

silverlinings it's a huge increase. DD was quoted that on Friday. I'd thought it would be about £12500/13000 at a push.

We too have benenden membership and we would get a members discount for a hip
Op making it about £8000.

Eeeek surely not? I am
Also on the hip hop Market thought it was about 10k which is plenty, and we live south east which always had a premium.

Another vote for Benenden. I had my Gall Bladder surgery privately, paid for by Benenden (as the NHS wait was more than a few weeks and I was having extremely painful attacks). When I was diagnosed with cancer, they gave me up to £1000 to buy any necessary items needed and for a 4 night break, dinner, b & b and reasonable travel exs, in a hotel of our choice as a sort of convalescence after radiotherapy had finished. Benendon do this for cancer as NHS wait times are usually quick. They do have 2 sorts of policy, the other is the usual dental, optical, physio sort. Look them up, we have been with them for years and the cost is very reasonable.

Unfortunately the wait for a hip or knee replacement is very long indeed.
DD just asked how much a private hip replacement would be at her nearest private hospital. It was a whopping £17,000. She'd have to have been putting money away for decades to have saved this.

Why would anyone pay for Health Insurance when we have the best Health Service in the world ? Yes, you may to wait a little while for a Hip or Knee Replacement. But if the symptoms call for further investigation, you will be seen within a fortnight.

Spam, I think...

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

I know Blinko. It's really worth having.

nadateturbe

^Often paying for a private consultation and diagnosis will speed up NHS treatment at a small cost^
Benenden will do this.

Same here. Benenden every time. I really don't understand why more people don't do it.

JenniferEccles Given time you get there (£14-15,000).

Like you we have only drawn down on it for occasional consultant appointments, but we have been putting this money aside for nearly 10 years - and it mounts up! When we compare it with what we would have paid to BUPA - with few claims and no payback, we are left feeling rather smug.

I think that sounds an excellent idea MOnica
Of course in some cases with private insurance, people would gain in terms of the medical treatment they had received, compared with what they had they had paid in but these private medical insurances are a business, to make money, so inevitably the odds are in their favour.

The idea of still having the savings if we didn’t use it all up would appeal to me too!

Having said that, posters have mentioned a company called Benenden before and the amounts quoted as monthly payments seem very reasonable.

I have paid to see a Consultant privately a couple of times over the past few years, but that was only in the region of a couple of hundred pounds each time which we have just paid.
Once you get into the realms of say hip replacements then you are talking about £14 to £15,000.

The advantage of having our own health savings is that we decide what to spend it on. No arguments about whether the treatment falls within the plan, or is really necessary. No worries about pre-existing conditions. If we decide we want to see a specialist, we just do it and pay for it from our own private fund.