4 Reasons Why You Should Consider Opting for Private Healthcare

When it comes to private healthcare versus public healthcare, people tend to have an all-or-nothing mentality. There are people who actually think that private healthcare undermines the public health system while others believe that public healthcare is fundamentally flawed and can never serve the public as efficiently as private healthcare. If you’re someone who has always believed in public healthcare, you can’t afford to go based on dogma when your health and life are at stake, and you should at least consider the option of going private. Here are some of the reasons why private healthcare could be the right choice in your case.

Faster Test Results and Treatment

It is no secret that waiting times for procedures are ridiculous with the NHS. If you have serious heart issues or cancer, you could wait up to two months to start treatment, which is quite frankly unacceptable. On the other hand, you could go to a clinic like Circle Health and get tested and treated in a few weeks, even days. Circle Health Group has clinics dispersed around the country and the level of service you’ll get from them cannot be rivalled by the NHS. Not only that, but you will be in a much more pleasant environment which can greatly increase your chances of recovery. So, if you feel like you have a serious problem or have been diagnosed with a serious disease that requires immediate surgery, you must think about going private if you have the means for it.

Better Atmosphere

Everything about the private experience is better than with the public system. People aren’t as overworked and are better paid, and this reflects in the quality of the service. And, this might be taboo, but private clinics do attract better physicians and professionals on average. This is because they can afford to pay them more and offer better conditions.

We’re not saying that all physicians at the NHS are incompetent, but you have to recognise that private practice is much more attractive to a top doctor. You will get the occasional doctor who chooses to work in lesser conditions and for less out of a sense of duty, but on average, you can expect doctors in private practices to be better. They also tend to be more experienced as many doctors move into private practice after years working for the NHS.

You can expect rooms to feel much more comfortable as well. You will have more privacy and the salubrity will be top-notch. This could make a world of difference if you end up having to receive critical care. Not being able to speak privately about serious issues is something that could greatly affect your morale in a public hospital, so think about this before going in for something serious that will require you to stay at the hospital for a while.

Better Equipment

Not only do private clinics tend to have better personnel, but they use better equipment as well. They make a lot more money than clinics in the public system and can afford to have the latest and best equipment.

NHS hospitals have to work with increasingly restrictive budgets and all sorts of issues, so they have to be flexible with the equipment they use. They will often wait until a technology is completely obsolete before they make changes or know that they don’t have enough of a certain type of equipment but still not be able to acquire more.

This is not something you’ll have to worry about with a good private clinic. You can also shop around and see which type of treatment or technology a private clinic offers. If you do your research on different treatments for your condition and find something that you think would work, there’s a strong chance that you’ll be able to find a clinic that offers it. This is not a luxury you can afford with the NHS.

Fewer Chances for Errors and Complications

There’s also a much lower risk that you’ll deal with a medical error or deal with severe complications due to poor quality of treatment or negligence. Again, we don’t want to paint a horrific picture of the NHS, but errors have been on the rise over the last few years. You might have a hard time believing this, but it’s estimated that the NHS is responsible for over 200 million medication errors every year and that these mistakes could be causing anywhere from 1,700 and 22,303 deaths annually. We still have to note that most errors don’t have major consequences, but this is still something that should worry you.

Since the staff at private facilities don’t have to treat as many patients and tend to work in better conditions, then the risk of errors is significantly lower. There are also much greater consequences for a private clinic making a mistake than there are for an NHS clinic.

As you can see, there are tons of reasons why going for private healthcare could make sense for you. If you have a serious issue or simply want to get the level of treatment you feel you deserve and can pay for it, don’t feel guilty and see what you could get on the private side.