Numbers Paying for Private Medical Treatment Soar

More and more people in the UK are using Private Medical treatment, whether it’s paying for a knee replacement or just consultations with a GP, tolerance for NHS waiting times are at an all-time low.

The BBC reported that last year, 272,000 people in the UK paid for private treatments (compared with 199,000 back in 2019). The Guardian also reported recently that GP’s working for Spire Healthcare recorded an increase in appointments from 23,000 in 2021 to 32,900 in 2022 (an increase of 43%).  It apparent that people in the UK are wanting to get ailments assessed much quicker than the NHS can accommodate.

With the vast amounts of money being spent on private appointments, is there another way people could access these services without the cost?

Nowadays, many companies offering Protection policies (Life Insurance, Critical Illness and Income Protection) include additional benefits such as access to GP’s 24/7, Mental Health Consultations, Physiotherapy, Nutrition Consultations, and 2nd Medical Opinions (to name a few). These often come free of charge with their policies and knowing these are included could save not only huge sums of money, but huge wait times with the NHS. If you already have a Life Insurance, Critical Illness, or Income Protection Policy in place, you may have access to some of the above services without knowing it. We advise anyone with one of these policies to check over their documentation and see what’s included!

If you would like to secure this type of cover and see what options are available, submit an enquiry or give one of our advisers a call on 01275404268.