It’s essential if you’re thinking of going private for a hospital treatment that you undertake considered research into which hospital will best serve your individual needs.
In a special series of articles starting today, we’ll bring you a host of tips on what to look out for when taking that important, personal healthcare decision. Today we talk about where you will find information to help inform your decision making on a hospital.
You may be looking at funding a hospital treatment yourself or you might have Private Medical Insurance (PMI) to help cover the cost.
Your GP may have recommended you consider “going private”, given long waiting times on the NHS and you might already have had conversations with a hospital consultant in the region who has been recommended to you by family or friends.
Whichever route you choose for your self-pay treatment, it’s essential you do your homework in advance of making the final choice of private hospital.
To help in your research, we recommend you look not only at the websites of private hospitals across your region but also those of the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and the Private Healthcare information Network (PHIN).
The Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of health and social care in England who make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and their role is also to encourage care services to improve.
During their last assessment, Benenden Hospital was rated as “Outstanding” by the CQC.
The PHIN (of which Benenden Hospital is a member) is the independent, government-mandated source of information about private healthcare. A not-for-profit organisation, they work to empower patients to make better-informed choices of care provider and Consultants’ performance, including the number of treatments carried out privately.
Also, on the PHIN website you will find patient experiences and patient satisfaction ratings for private hospitals that together, will help you in your final decision about which hospital to choose for your private treatment.
You can also read patient reviews on individual hospital websites, watch patient video interviews, and speak to former patients to help you choose.
Our series of guides on how to choose a private hospital
How much does private treatment cost?
How do I research a private hospital's infection control and cleanliness record?
What will my treatment journey be like at a private hospital?
Published on 07 December 2020