I turned down the private health option when I was working. Like Nell Frizzell (My mum was so desperate for medical care that she went private. Then came the bill ..., 3 December), I don’t believe in it. Recently, I developed a hernia. My GP sent me hotfooting it to A&E. After four hours there, a young doctor suggested that I “manage” the situation, because although it was serious, it wasn’t serious enough for him to take further action and the waiting list for surgery would be “months, but more likely years”.
So I went private. I hate doing it, but within two weeks I will be recovering. I’m 73. I cannot let myself become incapacitated for years, waiting on a list for a procedure that might never come. I am beyond angry with the politicians and their supporting voters who are changing the NHS.
Caroline Diggle
London
• I don’t approve of private healthcare, in the way that I don’t approve of private education or private jets. In a taxpaying democracy, having a service available only to people with money is divisive, unfair and unethical. But two years ago, I needed a knee replacement. I could wait five years on the NHS, or pay and have it done in three months. In five years I would have become depressed, obese and a recluse – the new knee would have been of little use to me. So I got a loan, and a new knee.
For a lifetime socialist, it is hard, but my only slight consolation is that I have opened up a place on the NHS for someone else.
Fiona Seddon
Llangynhafal, Denbighshire
• I fully sympathise with the internal conflict over private healthcare. After the birth of my daughter last year I have been in extreme discomfort. Despite being referred by my GP as “urgent”, my initial appointment with the colorectal department was for 10 months’ time. Despite disagreeing with private healthcare, I was unable to wait so long to see a doctor and so I saw a private consultant for £300. He told me that I needed an operation and quoted me £32,000.
I do not have that kind of money. So I am back on the NHS waiting list, and in the meantime my quality of life has deteriorated along with my pelvic floor. My condition may not be life-threatening, but it is life-altering, and I am unable to do anything about it.
Name and address supplied
• Having recently returned to the UK from living in France, I sympathise with Nell Frizzell’s mother’s predicament. The problem isn’t that nobody should pay; the solution is that everyone should pay. In France, people pay for healthcare, which, as a result, is extremely efficient. GP appointments cost between €25 and €50, and are readily available. The state contributes 70%; the patient pays the rest or takes out insurance to cover it.
There is a statutory health insurance system, mainly funded via taxes; 95% of people also pay health insurance to cover charges that exceed agreed costs. Those who are unemployed, elderly or chronically ill don’t pay. Why not pay £8-£15 to see a doctor in the UK? Also, French doctors will happily order blood tests or CT or MRI scans (costing about €200), which are done by private firms. Again, the state pays 70% of the cost at a minimum. Why does a private consultation in the UK cost £300 and a private CT scan more than £800? It’s a rip-off.
Everyone who can should be paying something, and therefore everyone is effectively going private. What can be more egalitarian than that?
Nick Blakey
Marlborough, Wiltshire
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