Health Report: Pay-as-you-go health
Varicose veins zapped in your lunch break? A life free from specs thanks to laser? Claire Williams asks why so many of us pay for non-urgent medical treatment - and the effects these treatments have on our wallets and well-being
There was a time when we accepted our lot in life.
Shortsightedness; varicose veins; problem skin... all part of
getting older, or the luck of the draw. But now, with the rise of
widely available procedures with apparently minimal risks, many of
us are c
hoosing to put our hands in
our pockets to have these problems cured rather than live with
them, as our grandparents did, or wait for the family doctor to
decide whether the surgeon's blade is called for.
Latest figures reveal that the private, non-urgent treatment sector is booming. Overall, the UK private health industry is worth a staggering £15bn, with 230 independent hospitals run by providers including BUPA and Nuffield Group providing around 20 per cent of non-urgent surgery, which doesn't include the huge cosmetic surgery market.
The boom in these procedures may be partly due to NHS rationing, with varicose vein ops now subject to a sliding scale of severity with only badly ulcerated legs deemed worthy of NHS funding.
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