One in four GPs has private medical insurance amid growing concerns over hospital waiting lists, new research suggests.
A survey of 860 GPs for Pulse magazine found 21% have their own personal private medical insurance, while 4% have it funded through their employers.
A further 15% said they were considering taking it out.
I have and will continue to seek a private opinion for myself or my family where NHS wait lists are too long...The NHS is on its knees— Anonymous GP
Asked why, people said it was because “NHS waiting lists are too long” and that they were unable to take sick days due to the intensity of the workload in general practice.
NHS waiting lists in England have climbed to a record level, with 7.47 million patients waiting to start routine hospital treatment at the end of May, up from 7.42 million at the end of April.
One GP who chose to remain anonymous told Pulse: “I have and will continue to seek a private opinion for myself or my family where NHS wait lists are too long.
“Locally, routine mental health appointments are 18 months (if a patient isn’t rejected completely as not being suitable), ADHD/ASD assessments up to four years, cardiology and dermatology appointments are one year, most others several months… I am fortunate in being able to afford private care, but I am conscious that many cannot.”
The doctor added: “The NHS is on its knees. The waits aren’t the fault of the hospital doctors – understaffing is a common theme in primary and secondary care.”
Sadly, I no longer trust the NHS to diagnose or treat cancer in a timely manner and I consider private health insurance to be an essential expense— Anonymous GP
North East London GP partner Dr Shahid Dadabhoy said: “I decided to access the private sector and get insured, largely because I am not bulletproof and neither is my family.
“As a GP, I can’t be offline through sickness or waiting for investigations on the NHS.
“I need to get patched-up to walking wounded level and paradoxically back to the ever-thinning NHS frontline as soon as possible.”
Another GP who wished to remain anonymous, said: “My son had glue ear and needed grommets and adenoids.
“The NHS wait was three months for a first [appointment], then another nine months for the surgery.
“A whole year for a two-year old not to hear, not to learn to speak, and to miss out on all the social development that goes along with being able to hear.
“I paid privately for the day-case surgery which was nearly £5,000 – that was a real eye-opener that my self-insurance pot would never keep up with healthcare costs and I took out health insurance the next day.
“Sadly, I no longer trust the NHS to diagnose or treat cancer in a timely manner and I consider private health insurance to be an essential expense.”
I feel a significant responsibility to make sure that I am available to support my practice staff and patients, this means that I need to make sure that delays in obtaining my own secondary care input need to be avoided so that I do not go off sick— Anonymous GP
Another anonymous GP said: “I feel a significant responsibility to make sure that I am available to support my practice staff and patients, this means that I need to make sure that delays in obtaining my own secondary care input need to be avoided so that I do not go off sick.
“It is not easy to replace what I do as a partner since a locum will only do consultations and not help to run the practice or supervise colleagues.
“Paying for private insurance gives me (and the practice) this additional resilience and means that I can be seen at short notice by consultants outside practice hours which avoids disrupting practice staffing which can be rather tight at times.
“I would not use private healthcare for any problem that required a multi-disciplinary team approach such as suspected cancer since these are not as well developed as NHS service and there is a risk that this could impact on the quality of care that I would receive.”
Cutting waiting lists is one of the Government’s top five priorities and we are making progress, including virtually eliminating 18-month waits and treating record numbers each day— Department of Health and Social Care
The Conservatives are on track to miss their 2019 manifesto pledge to recruit 6,000 new doctors to general practice by 2024/25.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: “Cutting waiting lists is one of the Government’s top five priorities and we are making progress, including virtually eliminating 18-month waits and treating record numbers each day.
“Our Elective Recovery Taskforce is also going further to unlock the independent sector so patients can be treated more quickly.
“There are more than 2,000 additional doctors in general practice compared to June 2019, we have hit our target of 26,000 extra direct patient care staff a year early and we have the highest ever number of doctors accepting a GP training place.
“In addition, we are increasing the number of training places by 50% as part of our Long-Term Workforce plan.”
