Ive been off work for almost 4 months with a knee injury. Was lucky to get a cancelled MRI scan 2 weeks ago and saw an NHS orthopaedic surgeon on Wednesday who confirmed I needed an operation to repair the tear.

Worse news was that the waiting list is 18 months which would put my health, earnings and even my job in serious jeopardy.

I asked if it could be done privately and he said he could do it, it would cost around £3250 and by sheer luck he had a cancellation that very evening. So I bit the bullet and hammered my credit card.

I saw him at 0915, was booked into hospital at 1700, in theatre at 1930 and home for midnight. Took about 18 hours as opposed to 18 months.

Im now at home, bit sore but on the mend and hope to be back to work in about 6 weeks.

So much as I would have preferred to stay NHS I feel I now need to obtain PMI and would welcome recommendations please.

Thanks

P

I am with Vitality and have been for a few years. Two lots of surgery and countless physio sessions have been covered quickly and easily. Surgery was authorised right after seeing a specialist and the operation done inside 2 weeks.

I’ve previously needed emergency surgery to fix a shattered wrist, it took them a few days to find a specialist to do the procedure but they did everything they could.

Well worth the cash in my opinion.

Cigna here. Does exactly what it’s supposed to do.

Did you look at alternative hospitals first before agreeing to go privately?

Axa and Cigna here. Both excellent.

Aviva here. Was excellent but the policy I’m now offered through work isn’t as good as it was.

When I had my spinal surgery the pre-op, MRIs, op, and care afterwards was excellent with Nuffield Health. The physio and rehab wasn’t what it should have been, but that was down to the limits set by the policy.

The Wife had a minor op and her treatment was outstanding. From seeing her GP to the consultant and then op was 10 days.

Overall it’s fantastic value for money, if you use it. I also claim back as much as I can on dental and optical to off set the cost a bit and feel like I’m getting something for my money.

Axa here.
Work provided, but have used and found it great.
Callled, appointment less than a week later. Scans there and then.

@FunkDunc…no I just jumped at the opportunity to get it done immediately. Could I have tried another UK trust? I live in NI.

I know I could have applied to have the op done in Dublin and could reclaim 50% of the cost but that would have taken more time and Im about to drop to half pay so just wanted to get it done.

Ive had loads of injuries over the years, broken ribs, ankle, neck, arm and other stuff but with each of them I was able to notice significant improvement as weeks went by. Suddenly one day I would be able to use the injured bit again much better than the previous day as the healing process progressed. But in this case there was no improvement at all despite physio and rest which really started to worry me. So despite the cost I feel much better overall now that its done and I can see progress.

Interestingly I work for NHS and covering (pretty high) sickness absence is expensive to my Trust as its all done on overtime. It would be very cost effective for my Trust to provide staff with PHI…..but thats another issue!