NHS Offering Private Operations for Snow Victims

As predicted in Health Insurance News UK, there has been an increased demand on NHS hospitals following the extreme snow falls last month. Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust has offered between 50 - 60 patients appointments with private hospitals as waiting lists far simple operations are now longer following a run of accidents during the snowfall.

The Nuffield Hospital in Woodingdean confirmed that it had been taking about 7 NHS patients a week. The NHS commented in a statement that 'This short-term arrangement ultimately means these patients will be treated quicker and their wait for surgery will not have been unduly delayed by the huge increase in emergency admissions this winter, or the need to cancel some planned procedures during the days of heavy snow earlier this month.


"The cost to the NHS is significantly lower than putting on additional weekend operating lists at the County Hospital and means we can see more patients with complex needs who need to be treated in an acute hospital.'

It is reported that the operations at the Nuffield have been costing the NHS between £800 and £1,200 which is cheaper than the cost of funding the operations at the weekend at NHS sites (between £1,200 and £1,800).

Paul Evans from the Brighton-based NHS Federation,said: 'If this is a one-off project that helps patients get timely treatment then I suppose it is understandable but it seems very strange that the NHS could not do the treatment itself more cheaply in-house.

'We need to make sure that in the long term the NHS is capable of providing the care needed for all of its patients.'

There is much pressure on NHS trusts to keep up with the government directive which states that 90% of patients must be seen within 18 weeks. By moving the less serious cases to private hospitals they can concentrate on more acute cases and keeping to their targets. Many private medical insurance policies offer a 'six week option' which enables you to pay cheaper monthly premiums if you are prepared to wait up to six weeks for an NHS appointment before you take the private option. Obviously there are no long waiting lists in private medicine although there are more popular hospitals and consultants who are in demand and therefore may have a backlog.

The move to treat patients in the private health sector because it is cheaper has created an uproar and those who do not want to see a further move towards a two tier system of medical care are calling for there to be a review of the situation.