Information for private patients who have received care at our hospitals
Thank you for choosing to be cared for as a private patient at either Colchester or Ipswich Hospital.
Accessing private care at ESNEFT
If you see a doctor privately they may offer to provide some of their services to you at one of our hospitals. This can happen when a local private hospital is unable to meet your requirements.
In these instances, we may agree to provide you with private healthcare services. We would write to you to confirm the services that we will provide. We would be only responsible for those services as part of your patient journey. We would have an agreement with you for that part of your care that you or your insurance provider will pay for. Your private doctor remains responsible for the care that they provide for you. Even if they provide that care in our hospitals.
If you have a private healthcare insurance policy, that you wish to use to access privately funded healthcare, you will need to speak with your insurance provider. Then ensure that they are happy to fund the care you want to access from us. You will need to tell them that you would like to use one of our hospitals. They can then authorise your request and pay us for the care services.
ESNEFT offers private healthcare in line with the NHS charging regulations. This means that our private healthcare offers do not include anything that is not usually available to our NHS patients, including dedicated parking or food and drink offers.
Here is some information about what to do if you are unhappy with your care.
Make a complaint
You can complain about the care through the doctor’s private practice for all clinical matters, or through the hospital for all facilities matters. Each party will respond to your complaint in line with their own complaints processes. They should be open and honest with you.
For your hospital facility services
You can find out about ESNEFT’s complaints process on the How to make a complaint page on our website.
ESNEFT is not registered with the Independent Healthcare Sector Complaints Adjudication Service.
For the care you receive from a doctor
To find out the complaints process for your private doctor, please refer to the doctor or your contract with them for details on how to make a complaint. ESNEFT do not handle complaints about doctors’ private practice
If your complaint involves the doctor and it is not resolved by your making a complaint, you might also want to contact the General Medical Council (GMC) for advice. Visit the General Medical Council website (Opens in a new window)
Other options you might consider
Consider your rights under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. This may offer you an option for requesting refunds for example cosmetic procedures that are not surgical in nature
Seek legal advice if you believe the procedure was carried out negligently.
To find a solicitor to assist you, visit the Law Society website (Opens in a new window)..
Support can also be provided by Accidents against Medical Accidents (AvMA), a charity for patient safety and justice.
Visit the AvMA website (Opens in a new window) for support.
The Private Healthcare Information Network is responsible to make the private healthcare market more transparent. It also offers some information on private healthcare on their website.
Visit the Private Healthcare Information Network website (Opens in a new window)
There may be some aspects of care that NHS referral could support, however each clinical situation would need individual assessment and therefore referral by the GP to the clinical team would be your first step.