Private Services and Fees

Practice Policy on Private Care and Referrals

‘Shared Care’ with Private Providers
Please be aware at the time of your referral that Roseneath Medical Practice does not enter into ‘Shared Care’ arrangements with any Private Providers. Shared Care is currently set up as an NHS service, and practices entering into a shared care agreement may face implications around governance, quality assurance, and promoting health inequalities. This stance is supported by the British Medical Association (BMA) and NHS Wales.
 

NHS Care following Private Referral
NHS guidance states that patients may pay for additional Private Healthcare while continuing to receive care from the NHS. To ensure there is no risk of the NHS subsidising private care:

• It should always be clear whether an individual procedure or treatment is privately funded or NHS funded.
• Private and NHS care should be kept as clearly separate as possible.
• The patient should bear the full costs of any private services. NHS resources should never be used to subsidise private care (this includes blood tests).
• The arrangements put in place to deliver private care should ensure a clear separation of funding, legal status, liability, and accountability between NHS care and any private care that a patient receives.
   

NHS Prescribing of Private Care-Initiated Medications
GMC Good Medical Practice states that doctors in the NHS and private sector should “prescribe drugs or treatment, including repeat prescriptions, only when they have adequate knowledge of the patient’s health and are satisfied that the drugs or treatment serve the patient’s needs”.

If requested by a private consultant to initiate or continue prescribing medications, this should only be done if the GP feels confident that further management and assessment of the patient’s needs can be met by the GP and that any problems encountered can be reviewed by a consultant-led team. This particularly relates to ‘Amber or Red’ classified drugs, which require specialist skills to initiate, change dose, or manage side effects.

Private Services and Fees 

For information regarding our Private Services and Fees including reports, medicals, letters, travel vaccinations etc, please contact our Reception Team on 01244 550555.