The private sector is looking to play an increasingly important role within the NHS, especially following the general election according to industry experts. The Chief Executive of private health provider Bupa, Ray King, told the London Evening Standard, “Whichever colour of party comes into power they will make the NHS seek higher levels of productivity and that inevitably means engaging with private health providers.” The NHS already has many contracts with the private sector, including to treat some patients which they haven’t got beds or resources to treat themselves. By seeing the NHS look to the private sector for help, which seems to be a growing pattern, the public may start to wonder whether they should go directly to a private doctor or hospital for their treatment. If so, they may wish to take out a private medical insurance policy to help make the costs more affordable.


The NHS is undoubtedly restricted by its budget from the government and this is likely to take some form of cut over the five years as MPs try to pay back some of the huge debt the country is now in following the recession. People already have the option to top up their NHS care if they so wish, which could be because they feel there is a better treatment available that the basic NHS budgets will not allow for. An ideal way to make these top ups less of a monetary issue, is to take out low cost private health cover. Cash plan policies are among the cheapest and can provide the peace of mind of traditional private medical insurance but at a fraction of the cost, meaning that they are accessible for almost every budget.