Scathing attack on private doctors as ‘greedy preying on the needy’

Dr John Dean, who is based at the Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust, has described private healthcare as a ‘con’, with doctors more concerned about generating a ‘fat fee’ than providing the best care for their patients.

Of the 40,000 NHS consultants in the UK, around 40 per cent undertake some extent of private work. Their contracts stipulate that they have to undertake ten NHS sessions a week, each session lasting around three to four hours, but otherwise they are able to do private work. Some, depending on the amount of extra hours and their specialty, can double their annual salaries in this way.

In an article that Dr Dean wrote for the British Medical Journal, he said that doctors working privately were prone to refer patients for ‘unnecessary tests and treatments’ in order to earn more money.

Dr Dean, who has recently given up his own private work, said “I could not escape the fact that I was involved in a business where the conduct of some was so venal, it bordered on criminal – the greedy preying on the needy.

“Private medicine encourages doctors to make decisions on the basis of profit rather than need,” he said.

“Private practice creates a perverse incentive to increase your NHS waiting times – after all, the longer they are, the more private practice will accrue.

“And, let’s face it, the whole business is largely a con.

“For most ‘ordinary’ private patients, though, the main advantage is simply to jump the NHS queue.

“Private hospitals are like five star hotels, but for the most part they are no place to be if you are really sick.”

A spokesperson from the British Medical Association, said that doctors were entitled to undertake private work, as long as their NHS patients were given priority.

They added “There should be no conflict of interest between NHS and private work, and this principle is contained in consultants’ employment contracts.

“Consultants who want to do private work must first offer to do extra work for the NHS, ensuring NHS work is the priority.”

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), Medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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