Every day of the week you will hear parents upset that they have a sick child and are unable to get into their NHS paediatric clinic. We love the NHS and are so grateful for all they have done for us in our lives. But unfortunately, that is not uncommon because the system, to put it bluntly, is overwhelmed with little relief in sight. If you are among those parents who want to do something to ensure their child will get the care they need, when they need it, you may be considering private paediatrics.
1. Reduced Wait Times
Sadly, it is often the paediatrician who gets the bad rap when it is through no fault of their own that they have a caseload greater than humanly possible to care for. It is a system that is overwhelmed by the sheer number of patients as compared to the number of NHS paediatricians. For this reason, many parents are turning to a private paediatrician like those at Childhealthy in London. Paediatric patients can be seen at the Cromwell Hospital, the Portland Hospital and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. There is no shortage of locations, so they feel secure in knowing their child will get seen timely.
2. Greater Range of Services
Also, there are only so many services covered by the NHS and there just might be a time when a child needs something not covered under the NHS residence-based healthcare plan. When parents opt for private healthcare insurance, the range of covered services and procedures is greater. This also offers greater freedom from worry. These are their children after all and there is nothing that they wouldn’t do to ensure the health and safety of these special little people.
3. Stronger Communications
Have you ever tried to get through to your NHS provider only to be thwarted time and again? Sometimes it is days before you reach someone in the office who can either set an appointment for you or arrange communication with the paediatrician. This is, again, an unfortunate situation brought about by patient overload and there isn’t much anyone can do at this point in time.
4. Faster Referrals
Then there are the times when a child has an illness or condition that requires the services of a specialist. Like adults, children often need to be referred to specialists and again, like adults, will often wait months to get into the specialist’s office for a consultation. This can have devasting effects on the quality of care if issues are more serious than originally diagnosed. Sadly, it is often the doctor who takes the blame for a system that is over-burdened.
While not ultimately the cause, Covid-19 did nothing to help matters and although the numbers are falling, there are many adults and children still contracting the virus. It doesn’t look like anything will improve any time soon. If you have a child you are concerned about getting proper care timely, if you can afford it, you may want to think about private insurance and private paediatric doctors. It may be the only solution considering the above-mentioned reasons for choosing the services of private paediatric care.
There’s something to be said about private health care .. waiting times are so lengthy with the nhs
If you can manage, it is absolutely worth going private for children for peace of mind.