Paying to avoid the wait for an NHS consultant
sir – The shortage of NHS consultants is nothing new (Letters, January 25).
In 2001, we sought help for our daughter who had anxiety issues and a constant stomach pain that was being treated by her local GP with antacids. After contacting our GP, who couldn’t fit us in with a consultant for nine months, we opted for private health care through my husband’s employer and found that she had a serious condition which had resulted in a stomach ulcer. If we hadn’t done this we could have lost our daughter.
Money can’t buy your health? Rubbish. It did with us.
Sandra Knatchbull
Maidstone, Kent
sir – I believe Mike Moliver (Letters, January 25) is incorrect when he states that people have never been incentivised to take out private medical insurance.
In fact, tax relief used to be afforded on private medical insurance premiums but was removed by the Labour government in 1997 – one of Tony Blair’s first acts when he came to power. It is interesting that the Conservatives, after more than 10 years in office, have not sought to reintroduce it. Terry Lloyd Derby sir – The trouble with paying for private treatment to receive speedy medical attention is that you are quite likely to see a consultant in the private sector who also works for the NHS.
I am trying to work out which is their main role. Is it as a private consultant and public-minded individual helping out the NHS, or as an NHS consultant taking time out from the day job to augment their earnings?
Joyce Bellingham
Hassocks, West Sussex
sir – If a government wishes to increase the amount of money it spends on health care, it has two choices. It could direct the money through the NHS, where the evidence suggests a provider-led service will use it inefficiently.
Alternatively, it could direct the money into the hands of patients, empowering them to control access to services. Improving the tax relief on health insurance would be a start, and simple to introduce. A more radical option would be to let patients transfer the value of their NHS treatment to another provider and top that up with their own resources if they so wish. David Worsley Taverham, Norfolk