Lasting benefits of speedy diagnosis
FOR MANY people in the UK, access to private healthcare is a luxury not a necessity. We wait longer for appointments and put up with last-minute cancellations because the NHS is free and accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. What makes matters worse is that our hard-working NHS doctors and nurses are shouldering an ever-increasing burden — they work double shifts, are underpaid and are burnt out from stress.
The culmination of these issues is that the NHS (through no fault of its own) ends up treating patients like a dam with a crack — it patches them up as best it can and sends them on their way.
This method solves the issue temporarily (and is certainly cheaper in the moment than investigating more fully there and then), but unless time is spent investigating why the crack has appeared in the first place, chances are that in the future more cracks will appear, or worst case, the dam will break entirely.
We see numerous examples in the media of patients going to their GP with an issue repeatedly before getting a referral to a specialist for something that if caught sooner would have meant the avoidance of invasive treatment and its potentially life-changing consequences.
Many people feel access to private health care offers a convenient and ultimately better long-term solution, both for their health and for the NHS’s bottom line.
Those who have access to private health care in this country are seen by a specialist 18 times faster than those that rely purely on the NHS. If we extrapolate this figure out to consultations, investigations and treatment, all of a sudden the difference having private health care could make to you is staggering. Could you imagine the difference an 18-timesquicker diagnosis could make in terms of a prognosis? In the long run, in many cases having access to private health care could mean the difference between surviving and thriving.
As I see it, if the NHS is the patch on the crack, private health care is the inspector and engineer getting to the root of the issue and repairing it before things get worse. To give an example:
You go to the GP with a symptom. The GP advises you that they could refer you to a specialist, but it will take a long time and the problem on first examination is minor.
You disagree but take the prescription you are given and go on your way. Several months go by and the issue gets worse. By the time you get to see a specialist it has become severe. The treatment needed to fix the issue is extensive and requires a long time off work to recover. The knock-on effect of these delays affects you for years to come, mentally, physically and financially.
Access to private health care for even the start of this process would mean that your diagnosis was quicker, the problem discovered and treated sooner, and your recovery time greatly reduced.
Compound this differing experience over a lifetime. Every time something is wrong, instead of patching the problem, you are repaired to the fullest extent possible.
Your mental, physical, and financial wellbeing are improved as a result, meaning that you are better off in every way as a direct result of private healthcare.
For those who worry about the cost of accessing the private sector, health insurance offers an elegant solution.
By paying a monthly premium, you can ensure that you have a way to get the care you need in a quick and convenient manner without dipping into your savings to do so.
You can book an appointment at your own convenience, and even get access to advanced drugs and treatments that the NHS is unable to provide.
It can give you the peace of mind that if the NHS falls short you are not going to spend sleepless nights waiting for the dam to spring yet another leak, leaving you potentially damaged beyond repair.
If you’re wondering how private medical insurance can help you, speak to an independent intermediary.
Private health care is the inspector who gets to the root of the issue’