Polish immigrants & the NHS

Health care being a hot topic in both the UK and the US, I was intrigued by a lead in the Economist about private medical treatment for Polish immigrants, especially in the context of the endless moans that incomers are swamping the NHS.

 

So I did some research – not easy because the web-sites are in Polish!

 

The Poles are not too impressed with the NHS. They want better treatment than they get form NHS GPs – short consultations, long waits to get appointments, no after-hours service-  -  so they have set up their own private medical facilities. As far as I can discover’ there are 3 clinics in London and 2 in Manchester.

 

The My Medyk in west London has 30,000 patients. Its services include GP, gynaecology (the Poles out-breed all other foreigners in the UK), paediatrics, dermatology, and dentistry/orthodontics. The tariffs seem very affordable. A consultation with a specialist is £70 (against £125 for the briefest consultation with a NHS private consultant, as I know to my cost) , and a dental examination is free (£45 here). A 3-D pregnancy scan is £95. It has a clean bill-of-health from the Quality Care Commission.

 

The clinics have the latest in imaging and diagnostic equipment. Some are open 7 days a week until 9 or 10p.m. And unlike the NHS procedure, patients can make appointments directly with a specialist without a GP’s referral.

 

And they don’t just cater for the well-heeled. Many of the patients work in the building industry or as cleaners.

 

Will this generate a demand for reasonably-priced medical facilities for the natives?

 

Or even stimulate the NHS bosses to start putting patients first?