18 Week Wait Still too Long

The Government has met its target to make sure that patients wait no longer than 18 weeks before their operations. The average wait is only 8.6 weeks and waiting times for cataracts and heart operations have halved in the last two years. Unacceptably long waiting times however are one of the top 10 reasons why people take out private health insurance.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said: "This has improved the lives of millions of people. Every year the NHS carries out 60,000 hip operations, in the last two years the waiting time for this procedure has fallen from around 30 weeks to 12 weeks. It's not just patients that benefit from this, clinicians also value the difference it makes to the quality of care they provide."

According to a Bupa study of 1000 people, 80% of respondents said that 18 weeks is too long to wait. Just under half of these people felt that four weeks was an acceptable amount of time to wait for an operation.

Dr. Natalie-Jane Macdonald, managing director at Bupa UK Health Insurance, said: "The government has had success in reducing NHS waiting times, but in today's instant-access society, where you can order your shopping online and have same day delivery, waiting 18 weeks for treatment is far too long."

Normally, if you have private medical insurance you can be seen very, very quickly by a specialist who will arrange your operation usually within a few weeks. However, it is possible to take out policies that have what is known as a 'six week option.' The six week option medical insurance works by enabling you to use the NHS if your they can take you within six weeks. If this is not possible, your insurance company will then enable you to be seen as private patient. Six week option plans tend to be cheaper than other policies.

Standard Life, Norwich Union and AXA-PPP all offer the six-week option health cover and choosing this can reduce your premiums by up to 10-30%.