Private healthcare can be an excellent and relatively stress free way of managing health issues, if and when they arise. The National Health Service has long since been under considerable strain meaning that choice of clinician and prompt treatment for non-emergencies cannot be guaranteed. With a private plan, you have more control and opportunity to decide when, where and from whom you receive treatment.

Our private healthcare plans are not restricted to time spent in the UK either. Private healthcare packages can be extended to cover time spent travelling overseas and issues that arise on domestic soil. We work with a range of providers to ensure that no matter where you are, your health is protected as best it can be. The largest UK private healthcare providers are HCA, Spire, BMI Healthcare, Ramsay, and Nuffield Health. In this post we outline what each has to offer.

HCA

HCA is the world’s largest private hospital group with UK centres across London and Manchester. Their strength is the specialist services and expertise they offer. All of the main HCA hospitals have Level 2 and 3 adult intensive care units with critical care staff on-call to provide 24/7 care. This means they are equipped to take care of you almost no matter what. It’s rare that patients need to be transferred to another hospital, in fact, 1 in 9 of HCA beds are for our critical care patients. The Harley Street Clinic and Portland Hospital are renowned for their paediatric intensive care units.

Nuffield Health

If physical health and fitness are a priority for you, Nuffield Health would be a great choice. Fitness and wellbeing clubs are a focus area unique to Nuffield Health. You may have been offered some form of membership by an employer because Nuffield support businesses in looking after employees by operating their fitness and wellbeing facilities. They also offer access to the largest network of physiotherapists outside of the NHS. Away from fitness, they run a network of hospitals, medical clinics and diagnostic units across the UK too.

Established for 60 years, Nuffield Health is one of the leading not-for-profit UK healthcare organisations. With no shareholders or investors you can be confident customer and patient feedback is carefully considered and improvements to facilities can be made with relative ease (provided the funds are there).

Spire

Spire have 38 hospitals, twelve clinics and two specialist cancer centres, across the UK. Unlike HCA they are not only based in London and Manchester but cover the whole of the UK excluding Northern Ireland. Despite being the newest provider in this list – formed in 2007 – they are the largest in terms of revenue. Like Nuffield, they also own and operate a sports medicine, physiotherapy and rehabilitation brand called Perform based at St George’s Park an elite sports training centre.

BMI Healthcare

BMI Healthcare was formed in 1970, when US hospital group AMI acquired its first hospital in the UK, the Harley Street Clinic. They now have 59 hospitals and clinics throughout the UK, excluding Ireland. A BMI plan could offer you access to 115 different specialties and services, with centres of excellence in spinal, orthopaedic, neuro, cardiac and cancer care.

Ramsay

Established in 1964 Ramsay Health has become a global hospital group operating over 220 hospitals and day surgery facilities across Australia, the United Kingdom and Indonesia. Ramsay Health Care UK acquired Capio UK which made them one of the largest providers of private hospital services in England.

Their facilities cater for a broad range of healthcare needs from day surgery procedures to highly complex surgery, as well as psychiatric care and rehabilitation. They care for private and self insured patients and increasingly, patients referred by the NHS.

Visit our blog to evaluate the benefits of going private for healthcare in London.

How IMC can help

IMC provide access to and guidance on an excellent range of plans for UK private healthcare providers covering physical ailments and mental health, from dental cover to physiotherapy. Our advisors work with you to source a package that balances your needs and budget in an efficient and cost effective way.

At IMC we are dedicated to ensuring that all our clients have the right level of private healthcare cover in place for his or her family. For an initial conversation regarding your private healthcare needs and how IMC can help, please contact us.