Menopause Matters Forum
General Discussion => This 'n' That => Topic started by: CLKD on September 09, 2018, 03:06:57 PM
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Whilst we have the NHS many of us choose to pay for health care either because there is access to Company Schemes; to obtain peace of mind; or because local services don't give what we require. Private care enables many to opt for dates that fit in with work etc..
I started this thread because someone posted that she was worried about her husband's reaction ....... Mithiehope: "But currently not in a job so don't know if I can afford it or if my husband will go mad when he finds out how expensive it is. . ..... "
It got me wondering what is considered expensive and whether people assume that private care is going to cost 'too much'? Personally I have had treatment both via Company Health Schemes and the NHS.
NHS has served me generally well. When my appendix was removed in the 1990s the Staff couldn't have been nicer. I had a Nurse 'for the day' who introduced herself and was at my beck and call until she went off duty. Another Night Nurse took over care.
What I didn't realise when I had private treatment 4 breast disease [1990s] was that there was less emergency cover than in the NHS. I paid for what I was given: Consultant time, Anaesthetist and the medication applied, Staff Nurse, removal of stitches, pain relief, dressings, food, liquids. It was never explained that had I required another speciality I would have been whisked off to the local NHS Hospital ::) as there was no emergency cover.
I also had private and NHS psychiatric therapies in hourly sessions. That was in the 1990s and an hourly private consult cost £70.00. Trouble was, I didn't get a full 60 mins.! Initially the therapist was on time but as the weeks went by she got later and later ........ but still charged the Insurance Company 60 mins.. I got pretty annoyed at that! I wanted and expected my full quota.
So when asking the questions about private costs, it is worth jotting down a list. Initial Consultant charge and how long the appt. is expected to last; does this cover the Consult time or is there an added charge for the use of a room. Secretarial charges? If hospital admission is required, what is charged for. Orthopaedics for example will charge privately for any physio., blood tests, pain relief, ABs ......... everything we get on the NHS that we take for granted.
I got to wondering the early hours (awake again at 2.30 a.m.) whether people in general would give up their annual holiday abroad in order to get private medical treatment? i.e. make that choice to become well rather than pay £Ks for holidays. I have never paid more than £500.00 self catering for 2 of us and refuse to pay more than £150.00 B&B per Hotel room in the UK. We don't have holidays off the Island. We also have a camper which costs to run: insurance, MOT, annual habitation check, two camping Club yearly subscriptions: as well as about £22.00 per night to camp - any more and we might as well go into B&B!
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£500 for a self catering holiday sounds very good but I take it that's not in school holidays? ;D
I'm currently paying £45 a week for GP recommended physio as the waiting time here is 14 weeks for NHS physio. It's all becoming very worrying!
Taz x
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Is that every day Taz2? Do you get homework ???
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It's £45 for a 30 minute session once a week. Yes I do have homework in the form of daily exercises
Taz 😁
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Do you remember to do the exercises? Is the therapy helping?
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Yes I do the exercises. You don't spend £180 a month and not do as suggested!
It's beginning to get easier. Situation wss not helped due to only having a phone consultation with GP as no appointments for five weeks and being misdiagnosed! Sometimes you do need to be seen I feel and not just listened to over the phone.
Taz x
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Yep. Adds to my argument that B4 any treatment, X-rays should be taken.
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X-rays wouldn't have shown anything but a physical examination would.
Taz x
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The only thing I have paid for is seeing a chiropractor when I had a very painful knee two years ago. as it turned out it was a waste of money. Oh I also paid for several acupuncture sessions.
I am a firm believer in our NHS system and have always received great treatment as has my Mum so I would be very reluctant indeed to pay privately as I have paid my National Insurance all my working life.
I have friends who have had tattooed eyebrows (microblading) at between £200 locally to £400 in London area. I know thats absolutely nothing to do with the NHS - I'm just pointing out that some people will pay huge amounts for beauty treatments.
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I was reluctant to pay privately too and I've always been a real believer and supporter of the NHS but it's just unfeasible to have to wait 14 weeks for physio especially when it's to correct a problem which has been made worse due to the unavailability of a GP appointment for 5 weeks. The system is definitely creaking..a bit like me 😁
Taz x :D
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I have reluctantly gone the private physio route for my back. It cost £48.00 for the initial assessment of one and a quarter hours which included a history going right back and a thorough examination of how my body could move etc. The weekly physio sessions are £44.00 and are for 45 minutes. I also have exercises to do at home. It is too early for an appraisal but I am hopeful. She comes highly recommended so fingers crossed.
The doctor was aware of how I was as I had to go to bed for three weeks due to awful spasms that were so bad I could not sit down and I needed medication. I was not offered a home visit. This happened in mid March. I also had a fortnightly phone call with the surgery physio who at no stage offered actual physio once I was more mobile but recommended the hospital which like the previous post was going to be weeks. I did tell the physio what I was going to do and still was not offered actual physio. I wonder why she is actually there
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Our NHS is stretched to the limits with the massive increase in the population from people moving here from other countries and people living a lot longer. I am old enough to remember going into hospital and having to argue to go home after your op or having a baby .... now they want you out as soon as you can sit up and open your eyes.
We also have health tourists to contend with and people getting ops like sex changes, cosmetic surgery and IVF on the NHS.
Some people won't agree with me but I firmly believe that this country should look after its own people first who have paid their tax and NI. We couldnt go to any other country and get free operations or care.
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That's another thread completely .... probably on here somewhere already ::)
I have spent several thousand £ on dental treatment in the last 8 years. I was afraid of going to the dentist but eventually I found one who I absolutely love. He has done a Psychology Degree too ;).
Similar to brisk exercise for bones, apparently the jaw bone needs activity in order to remain healthy. So talking, breathing but particularly chewing helps to keep this area working properly. As teeth are lost, the gums will recede naturally but this encourages the loosening of the neighbouring teeth. The jaw bone many become infected which causes other problems.
So I opted for implants. :o. I had to have a couple of teeth removed first to be replaced. Both had a long history of treatment. Once the teeth were removed [one as the LA wore off :o :-X ] a bone density test was done and it was decided that my over-all bone health is good. The procedure took several months and I paid as we went along. My Dentist did a specific Implant Course so is now Qualified to do implants. DH opted for 2 once he saw how good my mouth has been. Very little pain. Better at this time of Life than a plate as when the gums recede, the plate doesn't fit as well.
We don't smoke and I don't touch alcohol, we have UK holidays so had money saved to spend on health care.
>wave Hardwick< ......... little steps. PF - our NHS is stretched but we can't blame it all on immigration. If people are working and paying taxes or if their Government pays towards their Health Care, I don't see a problem. The NHS was never designed 4 nor could it have been foreseen how technology would move on.
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That's another thread completely .... probably on here somewhere already ::)
I have spent several thousand £ on dental treatment in the last 8 years. I was afraid of going to the dentist but eventually I found one who I absolutely love. He has done a Psychology Degree too ;).
Similar to brisk exercise for bones, apparently the jaw bone needs activity in order to remain healthy. So talking, breathing but particularly chewing helps to keep this area working properly. As teeth are lost, the gums will recede naturally but this encourages the loosening of the neighbouring teeth. The jaw bone many become infected which causes other problems.
So I opted for implants. :o. I had to have a couple of teeth removed first to be replaced. Both had a long history of treatment. Once the teeth were removed [one as the LA wore off :o :-X ] a bone density test was done and it was decided that my over-all bone health is good. The procedure took several months and I paid as we went along. My Dentist did a specific Implant Course so is now Qualified to do implants. DH opted for 2 once he saw how good my mouth has been. Very little pain. Better at this time of Life than a plate as when the gums recede, the plate doesn't fit as well.
We don't smoke and I don't touch alcohol, we have UK holidays so had money saved to spend on health care.
>wave Hardwick< ......... little steps. PF - our NHS is stretched but we can't blame it all on immigration. If people are working and paying taxes or if their Government pays towards their Health Care, I don't see a problem. The NHS was never designed 4 nor could it have been foreseen how technology would move on.
With respect I havent blamed it all on immigration. I have also said its down to people living a lot longer. Health tourists cost us billions and dont pay a penny. They come here “on holiday†knowing full well that they are very ill or heavily pregnant and know that they will receive free treament here. They are filling beds and using resources which should be spent on people who live here.
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What is a health tourist?
Taz x
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Private health care has been a double edged sword for me. 35 years ago my husband was an officer in the navy and private health care was a perk of his rank/job. It was quite unusual in those days to go private and when I went Ill with Chrons and needed surgery I went private, trouble is you get sort of trapped and I carried on ‘going private ‘ for years. Sometimes I was a private patient in a nhs hospital so I didn't have the perks of a nice room etc. Anyway fast forward 30 years and you know the outcome, a hysterectomy that nearly killed me and has caused permanent disability. They think it's because of the way my endometriosis was treated (privately) by repeatedly aspirating cysts in my abdomen, they think the repeated aspirations has damaged my peritoneum. I don't thunk they would have taken that approach on the nhs as they wouldn't have had the time plus it is actually against nhs guidance.
I'm still partly private and it's crippling me financially,
So going private isn't the panacea some may think x
Plus every serious complication I've had has been in a private hospital.
I'm very disillusioned.
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PF explains 'health tourist' really well.
A private patient in an NHS hospital is unlikely to get the 'works' offered in a private hospital. Though in order to cut waiting lists, private hospitals are taking on NHS patients - often the Surgeon works in both establishments.
Years ago a young girl from I think, Turkey - needed corrective surgery so her Government paid for it because the NHS had the expertise. Her Surgeon travelled with her to learn as it was a teaching hospital. Win win all round. She went home with support and a Surgeon who knew more about what she required.
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I suppose what I would like to know is what would someone give up in order to remain well: holidays, trips abroad, top of the range vehicles, nights in the Pub., theatre trips ........... and if the OH is against paying for treatment, what then?
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Every time I mention how much we are having to pay out on medical bills, my husband reminds me most people pay that amount on a holiday and as we can't go abroad then we are infant no worse off, if that makes sense.
Without your health you can't really do much so I would and sacrifice a lot of things in order for me to see my consultant privately. I finthe nhs struggles with complex patients unless you are lucky enough to have access to a specialised hospital.
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There is no price for good health.
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Does your Surgeon work in the NHS and Privately groundhog?
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Does your Surgeon work in the NHS and Privately groundhog?
most do both and lets not forget they were all trained by the NHS.
I recently went for a skin cancer appointment on the NHS but was sent to a different dept to the one I normally go to. Same hospital but down a different corridor through a door into a much more different waiting area. Then I saw a sign which said it was a private clinic but for my same consultant.
It was beautifully decorated with cappucinos and biscuits and soft drinks set out, big squidgy leather sofas, very posh magazines etc. The receptionist was very welcoming and I told him I thought there must have been a mistake and he said it was because of the time delay in appointments.
I didnt get any better treatment but the coffee was good. 😂
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Funny old world isn't it. :)
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A Consultant is part-time in the NHS in order to take on a private patient list. ;)
When I had treatment for breast disease under a Company Scheme, we called my room The Dallas Palace ;D
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A family on TV earlier apparently 'on the bread line' take their holidays abroad by using credit cards :-\ and Himself began to mutter. He doesn't often pass a comment about how people spend their monies so I raised this thread. He said he would give up everything as long as we are both healthy, after all: it's free to walk .......... to sit and enjoy scenery; to listen to the birds etc.. But health can rarely be got back.
When I look round at people we know of similar age to ourselves and how much they have suffered over the years we have been lucky [apart from the dreadful depression and anxiety which almost cost me my Life]. He has tendonitis in his big toe joints but in general ..........
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When I had a op in a private hospital I was given a 'wine list' with the dinner menu.
It was like a holiday but with pain killers.
Seriously though, some people are just plain stupid. Whats wrong with days out when they can afford it.
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That was what we said, although we do realise that sometimes going abroad can be cheaper than staycation. But if one is short of money maybe save up - he had been a teaching assistant but his job was cut so why not offer 'extra' tuition etc.?
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If he'd been a teaching assistant then I can see how they couldn't afford holidays without putting it on credit even his job had been cut. >:( Poor pay and holidays at the most expensive time of year don't go well together.
Taz x
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They don't. But are holidays really top of someone's list when money isn't available?
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When we lived abroad we were not admitted to hospital until we could either pay or prove we had insurance cover. We also in every country we lived in had I.d cards which we carried and were shown before treatment. Until this is mandatory here the NHS do not have the wherewithal to do the same so unpaid bills will continue to stack up. If we are drivers we already carry a licence with all our info on so I don't really see why a lot of people are against I.d cards
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When we lived abroad we were not admitted to hospital until we could either pay or prove we had insurance cover. We also in every country we lived in had I.d cards which we carried and were shown before treatment. Until this is mandatory here the NHS do not have the wherewithal to do the same so unpaid bills will continue to stack up. If we are drivers we already carry a licence with all our info on so I don't really see why a lot of people are against I.d cards
Nor me! I would happily carry an ID card. In a lot of countries they are compulsory. They would actually make like easier and stop people conning thr NHS.
I am taking my Mum to hospital and the security checks are laughable. We will just be asked on a computer screen whether we are UK residents and whether we have lived in this country fornthe last 6 months.
I know someone who moved to Spain over a year ago. Sold house here and bought out there. They have never told their GP that they have left the country so every few months their adult daughter who still lives here goes and collects his very expensive heart medication from our GP. I understand this is a common ruse that people use to get free medication even though they have left the country.
The whole system needs a thorough shake up and we would make some major savings.
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Hello ladies.
I can't believe that health tourism is a massive problem when only 0.01 per cent of NHS funding is spent on treating people who don't pay UK taxes. Plus if a visitor became ill or had an accident their health care costs would be recoverable from their home country and infact the NHS employs people to do just that.
What will happen after Brexit is a worry though. Will it be more difficult to recover costs from European countries and what about us if we fall ill abroad? That little health insurance card we take on holiday may not count for much. My other concern is how we'll cope without the staff from overseas, there are already huge shortages of nurses and doctors so we clearly have insufficient British people to fill the vacancies, what happens if all the foreigners decide to leave ? My friend the retired GP talks about this a lot and she has a doctor son and a nurse daughter. When I saw her the other day she told me that staff shortages are so bad at a London hospital that her daughter plans to either leave the profession or go and work in Australia!
Sorry to be so negative ladies but as we know health care is vital to us all and I hate to see our precious system fall apart.
Wishing everyone well.
K.
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Really can't agree about ID cards. As far as I am concerned as a citizen the 'State' belongs to me, I do not belong to the state.
I don't trust any government, not even our own, not to missuse them. There is too much 'BIG BROTHER' as it is.
Rant over. ::)
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You have a National Insurance Number once you begin work. That should be ID enough along with the driving licence though I haven't set eyes on either for years ::).
I haven't trusted a UK Government since B4 I was born ;)
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Re driving licence CLKD It's an offence not to know where it is. Only know this because mine was handed in at a police station as I'd dropped it and I got a right telling off when they phoned me and asked me where it was and I hadn't noticed it was missing!!
Taz x
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I don't think it's an offence Taz. You have to inform them if it is stolen but I can't imagine you could end up in court because you temporarily mislaid it. Just the police flexing their muscles, I think.
Don't trust them either.
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Hello ladies.
I can't believe that health tourism is a massive problem when only 0.01 per cent of NHS funding is spent on treating people who don't pay UK taxes. Plus if a visitor became ill or had an accident their health care costs would be recoverable from their home country and infact the NHS employs people to do just that.
What will happen after Brexit is a worry though. Will it be more difficult to recover costs from European countries and what about us if we fall ill abroad? That little health insurance card we take on holiday may not count for much. My other concern is how we'll cope without the staff from overseas, there are already huge shortages of nurses and doctors so we clearly have insufficient British people to fill the vacancies, what happens if all the foreigners decide to leave ? My friend the retired GP talks about this a lot and she has a doctor son and a nurse daughter. When I saw her the other day she told me that staff shortages are so bad at a London hospital that her daughter plans to either leave the profession or go and work in Australia!
Sorry to be so negative ladies but as we know health care is vital to us all and I hate to see our precious system fall apart.
Wishing everyone well.
K.
So Kathleen, you dont think £2 billion a year is a massive problem? There have been countless reports and TV progs about this and it IS a massive problem.
I watched a prog last year where they highlighted cases where people had come to this country knowing full well they were very ill, then went to hospitals here and received free treatment. There was a man from Egypt who got heart surgery and his daughter was on camera saying they would pay the bill and the update at the end said they never did. That was about £250,000. There was a woman from the Phillipines who did likewise and never paid a penny and then there was the Nigerian woman who came here heavily pregnant with quads and that was a similar amount. Her husband in Nigeria was wealthy and they never paid a penny either.
It just annoys me that we are such a soft touch. You just would NOT get treated in any other country without paying or having full insurance to cover it. My friends Mum went to Canada on holiday and within days had gallstone problems. At the hospital they refused to do anything unless she provided evidence of her insurance. The daughter in England had to email them through and only then would they operate.
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And then there are the people who don't turn up for appointments >:( >:(
And we wonder why we can't get an appointment to see our GP.
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I could write a book about that one Cazikins ;D
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I don't think it's an offence Taz. You have to inform them if it is stolen but I can't imagine you could end up in court because you temporarily mislaid it. Just the police flexing their muscles, I think.
Don't trust them either.
Offence was probably the wrong word but their point was that I didn't know I'd lost it and they'd had it for a week. You have to report it as soon as it's stolen and if you don't know whether you've got it or not then you also wouldn't know it was stolen.
Now...where did I put it... ;D
Taz x 😊
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I haven't seen my paper driving licence since B4 2006 ......... it isn't where it ought to be. :-\
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Paper drivers licences are no longer valid CLKD. They were done away with a few years ago.
And I don't even drive ::)
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Paper ones are valid. I've got one but you can't have a new paper one. If you lose it, change your address or reach 70 then you have to have a photo one.
Taz x
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They are valid and legal. Taz is quite correct. When we were applying for Power of Attorney this year someone in the Bank told us that the paper licences wasn't legal. I asked her to show me the UK Law which states this. Then I asked to see her Manager. I am waiting for my 70th birthday ;)
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Valid and legal if you don't have a photo one that is.
Goodness how have you gone all these years without needing a new one?