‘Netflix for health’ care provider to offer British subscribers who wish to beat NHS delays appointments with consultants within 48 hours for £20 a month
‘Netflix for health’ healthcare provider offers UK subscribers who want to cover NHS appointments with consultants within 48 hours for £20 a month
- The MyWay service is a ‘first of its kind’ solution designed to beat NHS waiting times
- Subscriptions for patients start at £20 per month for a minimum of 12 months
A private healthcare provider has launched a ‘Netflix-like’ service that gives subscribers access to advisors within 48 hours.
The MyWay service, set up by Circle Health Group, is a ‘first of its kind’ solution designed to help patients bypass NHS waiting times and appointment delays in the UK.
Subscriptions to the service start at £20 a month, requiring patients to sign up for a minimum of 12 months. But only people who use the service for 30 days can access the quick appointments with consultants.
MyWay offers access to a GP consultation within about a day, during personal appointments as well as scans and blood tests are available shortly after.
The service’s launch comes as consultants organized their first walk-out in more than a decade earlier this week.
A private healthcare provider has launched a ‘Netflix-esque’ service giving subscribers access to consultants within 48 hours for £20 a month
The MyWay service, set up by Circle Health Group, is a ‘first solution’ aimed at helping patients bypass NHS waiting times and appointment delays in the UK
The service’s launch comes as consultants organized their first walk-out in more than a decade earlier this week
Circle Health said the subscription service will enable people with health issues to return to work more quickly as more employees are forced to stay home due to long-term illness.
To sign up for the service, patients must complete a simple “five-box” process compared to the more time-consuming questionnaires required to purchase life insurance.
Mr Paul Manning, a consultant surgeon at Nottinghamshire University Hospital NHS Trust, who designed the service, told the Telegraph: ‘The patients we see now are more acute and less able to return to work.
“In the UK there is a huge shortage of services for people who are concerned about long waiting lists taking them out of the workforce but find private health insurance too expensive or complicated – particularly sole traders, small business owners or those with any form of pre-existing condition.”
On Thursday, thousands of senior doctors across England went on strike in an ongoing pay dispute that will last until 7 a.m. Saturday.
Thousands of surgeries, procedures and appointments have been canceled and are being rescheduled as a result.
It came just two days after junior doctors staged a five-day strike, the longest in NHS history.
More than 24,000 consultants voted in favor of union action last month in the British Medical Association (BMA) vote, with the vast majority, 86 percent, voting in favour.
The government has told consultants they will get a 6 percent pay rise, but the BMA has called this “ridiculous,” saying doctors have seen real pay fall by more than a third over the past 14 years.
According to the BMA, consultants on a 2003 contract earn a starting salary of £88,364 in base salary, rising to £119,133 after around 19 years.
The Department of Health said additional payments such as clinical excellence awards and cash for availability would bring the average NHS salary for consultants to around £134,000 in 2023/24.