A new report has indicated that NHS hospitals are not getting any cleaner, providing yet another reason why people concerned about their health should seek health insurance in the private sector. The same report that single sex wards are still a while off. Both these factors have been underlying concerns for the government, but as of yet, no steps have been taken to remedy them.
The Times newspaper found in a new report due to be published this month, that Healthcare Commission inspectors have found that only one third of hospitals in England meet the top standard for hygiene and sanitation. Private hospitals did better in general than NHS ones. The report was a true reflection on the real state of the hospitals as inspectors often visited them without warning. They chose 61 NHS hospitals that had poor scores in a patient survey, another 10 that had done well, and 28 randomly chosen private hospitals.
The report only increases the demand for private medical insurance, not forgetting that patients are still forced to wait months for referrals to specialists and the waiting list for certain operations are just getting longer. To add insult to injury, the NHS has recently started to refuse to pay for certain expensive treatments.
Even though private health insurance has never been cheap, the certainty of treatment and the benefit of private health assessments outweigh the inconvenience of extra cost. Indeed the private health sector has not only provided quality service for policy holders but has proactively helped the NHS as well. Private hospitals and insurance companies have contributed to the nation’s health by donating equipment to NHS hospitals. This equipment is then used by both the public and private sectors. For example, BUPA helped St Thomas’s Hospital in London buy a lithotripter .
Another way in which it has helped the NHS is that when there are long waiting lists and people turn to private hospitals to concentrate of non-urgent conditions, the waiting lists for such conditions is reduced leaving the NHS with more time and ability to deal with more chronic complaints and emergencies.
The private health sector is offsetting the higher cost in premiums of late with a greater variety of products. For example, there are numerous levels of fully comprehensive cover. For example, Bupa, like most other health insurers, gives customers the opportunity to reduce the cost of their policy, by choosing from one of four main levels of cover. Additionally, you can also cut costs by increasing the excess on your policy – the amount that you're willing to pay towards any claims each year.
To gain a better grasp of the medical insurance market, you would be well advised to check out price comparison websites bearing in mind that quotes can always be adjusted to fit your tailor made circumstances. Medical insurance does not have to be a complex product.
|