Patients could face increased wait times for private treatment unless insurers can effectively sort out the issue of fees paid out to consultants.
This is according to Federation of Independent Practitioner Organisations (FIPO) chairman Dr Richard Packard on the first day of Health & Protection’s Health Summit at Tylney Hall in Hampshire.
Dr Packard (pictured) warned that waiting lists for private healthcare will increase and PMI will become less attractive if relations between private medical insurers and consultants do not improve.
“If you look outside London, it’s a completely different picture in terms of the provision of private practice,” he said.
“I talk to a number of colleagues through my FIPO connections and they say the majority of young consultants are not going into private practice for a variety of reasons – partly because the reimbursements are so low, because the start up costs are so high, and because they can earn just as much money as they want to by doing waiting lists work at the time of their choosing with minimal start up costs.”