It is not a new concept. I remember travelling down from E'burgh with a fellow A&E Consultant from, if my memory serves me correct, from Lewisham who was going into a Private A&E Department. This was about 5 years ago. I often wonder what happened. He was a good looking dark haired chap with a Welsh name. Something like Jones or Lewis.
In South Africa where I worked for a time and revisited a few years ago, A&E was quite a lucrative field. The flashy Private Hospitals had Emergency Units. I found it amazing, in the UK we were shutting them down and yet in the private sector they were positively attracting work. The new hospital at Umphlanga Rocks outside Durban had a superb unit and actively took Trauma.
By the by if Emergency Work was properly funded and resourced then Units would flourish in the UK. Unfortunately as we all know this is not the case.
Seriously though if a similar unit opened within travelling distance to me I'd give the NHS two fingers and be off like a shot. I could look after proper patients and not have useless NHS managers telling me what to do.
There are a few A&E Consultants that seem to do some Private work. I may be wrong and if I am I apologise but I think Mike Allen does some fairly acutish A&E private practice. If one is hard working there is a niche.
Best wishes
Danny McGeehan
-----------------------------------------
Email provided by http://www.ntlhome.com/
|