Private Health Insurance Guide

Waiting lists increase -

According to the latest figures, NHS waiting times have increased - by 6% - for routine surgery - and more people are waiting upwards of six months for their operations. Standard procedures such as hernia and gallstone operations, and also knee replacements, are among the procedures that patients are now waiting longer to undergo.

And while the waiting times for elective procedures have lengthened, The Guardian reports that, during the same period the number of actual procedures carried out  fell by 4.6% - "the second successive year those trends have been seen".

In its guide to waiting times, the NHS Choices website states that "you have the right to access services within maximum waiting times". In consumer guide Which's overview of PMI, it states that one o fthe main reasons people choose private medical insurance is "to avoid NHS waiting lists and receive fast-track consultations and private treatment for short-term, curable medical problems"

How the current situation regarding waiting times will work out is, for the time being at least, anyone's guess. The health secretary has defended the government's record, saying that, in fact, the waiting lists aren't all bad news: "There are fewer patients than ever waiting a long time for treatment . The number of people waiting over a year for treatment has reduced by two-thirds since we came into office and the average time patients have to wait for treatment is at the same level as two years ago".

NHS Patients Meals Cost Just £1.70

Patients at some NHS trusts up and down the country are being served meals that cost just £1.70 per meal according to new published figures.

This has come on the back of growing concerns about the lack of nutrition in Britains wards.  It is thought one in ten trusts across the country spend less than £5 per day on breakfast, lunch and dinner for each of the patients in their care.

Of those it was seen that Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust spent just £2.57 per day (86p per meal).  The was by far the least amount spent per meal in the country as discovered by the NHS Information Centre.

It has become a concern for everybody concerned because patients require the maximum amount of nutrition in order to aid them getting better, especially older patients.  It is widely felt that action needs to be taken immediately in order to right some of these wrongs.

The Government has already proposed that meals with reduced salt, sugar and fat content and replace that with fruit, vegetables, fibres and oily fish to aid patients patients recovery and make sure the correct nutrients are being provided.

In addition local trusts are trying to source stock local suppliers so that the costs are still kept down but the freshness of the foods are there too.

 

The American Health Insurance Problem

The American political scene is busy at the moment with many potential presidential candidates trying to make their case for election.

High on the agenda is the health insurance issue, with Mitt Romney subtly referring to this rather contentious issue when he claimed that he “liked being able to fire people who provide services to me”.

Unfortunately this is just not an option for the large number of Americans who receive their health insurance cover through their job. Around 45% of the population receive their medical insurance through work and very few actually have a choice of provider.

Some employers provide a couple of options for staff but it’s a long way from the freedom people have in the UK when selecting a private health insurance policy. As it stands the majority of employees need to take what’s on offer when they start their job.

The issue can be traced back to the Second World War, where the tax on employee benefits was removed. This incentivises businesses to increase employee benefits packages, which has led to a continual growth of the amount spent on healthcare in the USA.

Many people change jobs frequently, and so are not tied to a single policy or insurer for long. For the sake of convenience many simply take what is provided rather than take the time to find a private policy.

 

Mandatory Regulation Required say Healthcare Assistants

Nurses in England are ramping up their campaign in order to get ministers to toughen up onhealthcare support staff in England.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has been seeking change for some time in order to regulate the assessment regimes the  healthcare support staff recieve as they become more and more involved with patient care which would bring into line the types of evaluations that the support staff recieve with nurses.

Ministers have decided to introduce a voluntary system in the forthcoming years, however the RCN has come up against these proposals declaring they don't go far enough and have issued a petition as protest, complete with 2,500 signatures from front line staff.

In addition to this they have now also got nurses and healthcare support workers to throw their weight behind it by signing a letter citing that changes are required.  This document has been handed to ministers in the House of Lords which will then be debated as part of the Heath and Social Care Bill.

The changes that are happening are not thought to affect the medical insurance market and is solely for changes that are due for the NHS.  Ministers argue that as healthcare support workers are supervised the current proposals would be enough to move forward.

 

 

 

Nurses "Dissuaded" from Whistle Blowing on Poor Patient Care

Nurses in the NHS have been persuaded NOT to voice concerns over the quality of care on the wards of the NHS.

3,000 nurses at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), who took part in the poll, found that 33% had been asked not to raise concerns about issues affecting them at work.  73% had been asked by their managers to not voice any opinions while 24% said their colleagues said it would be a bad idea.

In almost half of cases when members of staff had spoken out on the poor care given, no action was taken; these included having too few many staff to cover duties and patient safety.

The RCN's results have shown that compared to 2009's report an increase of 3% amongst staff who had been told not to speak out.  It had also been reported that 80% had raised concerns relating to NHS wards whilst 84% were worried about being victimised and having a negative effect on their career.  Patients who had received medical health insurance had not been included in the report due to the higher standards of care available to them.

Senior hospital officials have been told that a demonstration of practice had to be put in place and that concerns should be welcomed looking to improve the services that the NHS offer and patient care being the paramount of focus.

 

 

 

Hospital weekend research news

Big health news of the week so far:  new research shows that those who are admitted to hospital for emergency treatment at NHS hospitals are 10% more likely to die than thiose admitted during the week.

The reasons for this happening are, of course, down to hospitals having less resource available at the weekend than they do during the weekend, according to the Guardian's report I link to above, which quotes from a telegraph report saying that "many hospitals have vastly fewer numbers of senior consultants on site outside normal office hours".

The problem of course is that emergency treatment can be needed at any time - and by any type of individual. Healthy living is one thing but of course emergency assistance can be required by the healthiest among us.

 

 

 

How does health insurance work?

Interesting video -