BUPA - Buyer beware

PZH

fluffnutter wrote: »

..If it doesn't work that's for two reasons - 1. we're living longer hence the cost of medical care rises every year and 2. governments !!!! about with it, introducing fund-sapping bureaucracy.

3. People do not follow the medical advise given to them and continue to demand treatment anyway.
4. There are more self inflicted medical conditions that require constant medical care (Drugs, alcohol, etc)
5. We live in a blame culture and people sue at the slightest thing.
6. With point 5 in mind, NHS staff are sh*t scared of saying, doing, failing on anything and have to spend more time filling in paperwork and having to cover their own !!!!!! than they do actually tending to the people who actually need help. (PS: This is not a dig at the staff - it is a dig at society as a whole)


Just my tuppence worth

MisterBrico

My mum was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 years back, tough to swallow at 18.

Anyway she had her first op on the NHS and the second on our health insurance.

Both were prompt, excellent quality.

The only difference we noticed si the private ward is more a hotel as appose to the large wards on the NHS, but the ability to save lives is identical.

Anyway over 2 years now and no return so I'm a happy bunny

pmduk

Back to the BUPA problem, if your policy covers the procedure concerned then write and appeal against their decision. It may just be a simple mistake.

vyle

fluffnutter wrote: »

Nye Bevan's vision of a free at point of use national health service was revolutionary. If it doesn't work that's for two reasons - 1. we're living longer hence the cost of medical care rises every year and 2. governments piss about with it, introducing fund-sapping bureaucracy.

If, however, you merely think the NHS is rubbish and doesn't do a good job of caring for this nation's health, then please ensure you wear a sign at all times advising of this in the event that you have a heart attack, or sever an artery or get trapped in a smashed up car so that the paramedics, doctors, nurses etc. can save a bit of money and move on to the next person.

If you could opt out of paying national insurance, im sure a lot of people would be happy to do this.

I've got a friend who is in hospital right now. He went in 6 years ago for an operation on his intestines to sort out something to do with crones disease.

The surgeon left a scalpel inside after the op, it caused an infection which meant that he had to have an operation to remove the scalpel, and part of his intestines.

They messed it up, somehow cutting into the muscle that is connected to his spine, but didn't sew it, causing another infection that has left him unable to walk.

They followed up this wonderful treatment by leaving him alone on a ward for much older patients, and didn't feed him because he was apparently meant to be down in the children's ward and they were making food for him there, but not taking it to him on this other ward. It took a day and a half for someone to see sense and move him to the correct ward so he could eat.

Since then, he's been in and out of hospital countless times for operations which have been cancelled, operations which were agreed, but had not actually been scheduled... they've sent ambulances to pick him up for the operation but it's never made it onto whatever schedules the theatres use and they've put someone else in his place.

He's had more operations go wrong, leading to him having more operations to fix the mistakes between bouts of MRSA.

After all that's happened to him, I'm scared shitless of ever needing NHS treatment, but I can't afford to go private because I pay so much NI.

Never mind the other botches, like my mum nearly bleeding to death after giving birth to me because a midwife spotted she was bleeding, but forgot to get anyone to examine it, and my mother in law having an epidural left in her after she gave birth to my brother in law, which was only spotted when my FIL visited her and noticed she was unable to speak or move her limbs.

Morglin

The NHS did improve dramatically over the last few years to what it was before, but I would say (as a frequent user), that the main problems were hygiene practices and the appalling attitude of SOME nurses, who seemed to forget what they were there for.:mad:

However, we are now back to increased waiting times and front line cutbacks, so no doubt it will be as bad as it was 20 years ago, before long.

But, organsisations like BUPA are only interested in the young and fit with 'one-off' complaints and could never be any sort of substitute for the NHS, which is excellent in many ways.

Of course, there are things that go wrong, medically - but they also go wrong in private hospitals.

Lin

Nimeth

OP, this really doesn't surprise me at what they're doing. Private health companies make a business out of trying not to pay. After all, you're cutting into their profit margins, which is their first priority, not you.

vyle, your friend's experience with the NHS/Crohn's disease is horrible, but he's also not likely to get health insurance due to the fact that he has a pre-existing condition or if he can get it, it will be prohibitively expensive, because after all he will be costing them money! You think you pay a lot in NI right now, you'll pay even more for private, simply because they are in the business of making money. And heaven forbid you get sick, you'll then get to fight with an insurance bureaucrat over whether they'll fork out for your treatment or not, clearly or this thread would not be here. And btw, private hospitals screw it up too, a lot of that extra money goes towards lining the pockets of the CEOs, not patient care.

I come from America originally, Grand Central station for private for-profit health companies and it sucks. Truly, there's a reason the US has the worst healthcare out of all the Western industrialised nations. Americans have no such safety in place, which is why 45,000 of them die every year from lack of any adequate healthcare and 45 million can't afford to take out health insurance. And even those that do have insurance still bankrupt themselves to pay for a one-off illness/accident. The NHS may not be perfect (but hey, no system is perfect), but be thankful that you have it, even if you go private and use it as a safety net. I know I'm thankful that it's there because I have far too much knowledge and experience of what happens when your only options are private or nothing at all.

Oldernotwiser

paddyrg wrote: »

I assume that's not for cancer or another critical condition which they naturally prioritise.

Don't assume anything. I waited for 3 months for a biopsy and mammogram for the lump I found in my breast which was cancer.

backhoe

I used to work for a medical insurance co and the philosophy at that time did seem to be 'find a reason NOT to pay' so doesn't surprise me what they have said.
Medical insurance is basically intended for acute medical conditions and not chronic or pre-existing conditions. having worked in the industry I would never pay out for medical insurance.

laalaa

vyle wrote: »

If you could opt out of paying national insurance, im sure a lot of people would be happy to do this

Nonsense! Private health care does not have a provision for emergency care, apart from a hospital in Harrow which has a limited private A&E but its not even 24hours.

What if you needed an ambulance or emergency care to save your life?

Everyone seems to concentrate on the bad elements of the NHS, and forget the sometimes wonderful work that they do.

For every "horror" story you hear, they will be 1000 good ones, but naturally everyone only hears the bad.

hcb42

I think the NHS is something which we are fortunate to have , certainly compared to a lot of countries.

But i also think it is a total bureaucratic disaster zone which has lost its way. I watched Question time the other night, and I agreed with the female journalist. I have lost count of the times I have waited in a hospital ward for 5-6 hours or more, no one comes to see you, and their priority seems to be arguing over breaks, I have seen this in more than one hospital in more than one region. I was having the misfortune to visit a ward at the QMC several times last year, there were never more than 2-3 patients, but I was left there all day in an outpatient dept sometimes, desite the fact the nurses and doctors significantly outnumbered the patients and there were no medical emergencies. They might not have any faith in the NHS reform, but the nurses also need to reform. And my sister is a nurse, and I am genuinely quite shocked and saddened from what I hear from her. Watching my Dad die in a hospital was appalling. (not blaming the hospital for his death, no way, but just a lack of care or compassion or any kind of continuity of condition relayed to relatives for the ten days he was in there)

We do have private medical insurance, and more fool me I didnt use it that time.