Referring to the possible solution, he said that slight increase in the maximum limit could enable public sector institutes like PIC to offer Angioplasty to
private patients within prescribed limit.
The NHS carries out over 10 million operations a year of which only a fraction of a percentage point relates to
private patients. The independent healthcare sector treats the majority of
private patients and, indeed, some NHS patients on a contractual basis.
The NHS Code of Practice for
private patients states that 'provision of services for
private patients should not prejudice the interests of NHS patients or disrupt NHS services' and 'NHS commitments should take precedence over private work'.
Private patient advocates are not affiliated with doctors or hospitals.
In 2016, PS12.2million worth of debt accrued by overseas visitors was written off, while PS2.3million in
private patient bad debt was written off.
Betsi Chair Dr Higson stresses the Health Board's commitment to Human Rights and Equality - yet '
private patients' are fast-tracked into our NHS hospitals for inpatient operations, day-case surgery, endoscopy, xrays and scans etc.
MERSEYSIDE'S specialist cancer hospital has opened a unit exclusively for
private patients.
The accusation comes only weeks after Health Ministry officials said it was wrong for
private patients to take precedence over those forced to queue for months before they are operated on.
It has a Web site with an online tool that determines eligibility for more than 475 public and
private patient assistance programs.
Upon entry to hospital, all patients are required to fill in a patient election form which records whether they are to be treated as a public patient, thereby avoiding out of pocket expenses, or as a
private patient, enabling them to skip the public sector surgical queue for elective procedures.
Five states--Colorado, Indiana, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Utah--will receive a total of $25 million over five years to develop secure statewide networks so
private patient medical information can be accessed.