26.08.15
UK public has no idea about NHS treatment costs – and doesn’t care, either
Benenden’s National Health Report 2015 recently revealed that the UK public is “grossly ignorant” about the true costs of the most common NHS procedure – which the healthcare group said proved people’s “flagrantly selfish sense of entitlement” when it comes to treatments in the state service.
Around 4,000 people were asked to put a cost to common treatments – from natural childbirth to liver transplants – and to state whether they believed they should help fund prices if they required the procedure.
Most of the public revealed a sense of naiveté about NHS prices, estimating liver transplants to cost just over £12,000 in face of an actual sum total of £70,000 per procedure. The trends continued throughout other treatments, scoping abdominal hernia surgery, gastric band insertions, IVF, and childbirth.
Concerning IVF, the public seemed to think the procedure was relatively cheap as more than three-quarters of respondents stated that people should either foot the bill entirely or at least contribute to costs. This is despite one round of the treatment costing up to £6,000, with women under 30 years being offered up to three rounds.
Commenting on the findings, medical director of Benenden, Dr John Giles, said it “came as no surprise” that the UK public had a “staggering and destructive ignorance” regarding true treatment costs on the service.
“As a nation, we have lost touch with the role we should play in our own health and wellbeing, expecting the NHS to pick up the pieces. We are happy to point the finger when it comes to saying who doesn’t deserve treatment, but we take little responsibility on the individual impact we are all having on the NHS, whether that is through poor lifestyle choices, exaggerating symptoms or having an unfair sense of entitlement to the NHS,” he said.
Despite the remarkable findings, those questioned were curiously clued up on the cost of cosmetic procedures, accurately estimating the costs of nose jobs. Nearly one in 10 also admitted lying to their doctor - or knowing someone who had – about being depressed in an attempt to score free cosmetic surgery.
Over half of those questioned also said that people making poor health choices, including overeating or abusing drugs and alcohol, should not be treated in the NHS. This might prove controversial as the NHS has just announced plans for a 2016 rollout of a 9-month prevention programme for up to five million overweight people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Finally, a whopping 75% admitted they didn’t consider the costs of procedures or even worried that their free treatment could be taking away from treating someone else in greater need, despite 62% of them openly expressing concerns that the NHS was “under strain”. Perhaps this grave outlook will change once the NHS starts reducing the amount of services – or starts charging patients for seeing doctors, attending A&E or using hospitals facilities – to stay afloat.