NHS in Wales - is there a private alternative to A&E ?

GustyGardenGalaxy

A friend of mine has recently had a very bad experience where he had a very badly infected abscess on his leg which the NHS wanted to operate on, however it took them a few days to carry out the procedure because there were no available beds. He suffered terribly with this at the time, also the antibiotics were giving him a very bad upset stomach and just added to his awful condition.

This got me wondering - as the NHS were unable to give him prompt treatment, are there any alternative options that he could have tried had he been aware of them? Some kind of private A^E/urgent care facility?

He doesn't have health insurance but if he had, would it have helped in this urgent case that was causing so much suffering.

It gets me wondering about my own health - it's good to have a backup plan, so if I was ever in a situation where I needed emergency or urgent care that the NHS were unable to promptly provide, are there any other options, presumably something private? Of course with private treatment you need a referral from your GP, so that's one potential pitfall already.

Would good health insurance help with something unexpected and urgent?

Undervalued

GustyGardenGalaxy said:

A friend of mine has recently had a very bad experience where he had a very badly infected abscess on his leg which the NHS wanted to operate on, however it took them a few days to carry out the procedure because there were no available beds. He suffered terribly with this at the time, also the antibiotics were giving him a very bad upset stomach and just added to his awful condition.

This got me wondering - as the NHS were unable to give him prompt treatment, are there any alternative options that he could have tried had he been aware of them? Some kind of private A^E/urgent care facility?

He doesn't have health insurance but if he had, would it have helped in this urgent case that was causing so much suffering.

It gets me wondering about my own health - it's good to have a backup plan, so if I was ever in a situation where I needed emergency or urgent care that the NHS were unable to promptly provide, are there any other options, presumably something private? Of course with private treatment you need a referral from your GP, so that's one potential pitfall already.

Would good health insurance help with something unexpected and urgent?

Not necessarily. Some consultants are willing to see self referring patients. Also, many private hospitals offer a private GP service who can then refer you to an appropriate consultant.

Generally there is no alternative to the NHS for a truly urgent accident or medical emergency situation. Once the immediate danger has been addressed you are then free to explore private options for any further treatment. However, that does depend on availability of consultants. With some exceptions the majority of consultants, certainly in many fields, work nominally two thirds of their time for the NHS then the remainder seeing private patients.

Your last paragraph....

Yes, subject to the practicalities I have mentioned.