The latest Covid-19 information from us

Patient and staff safety are of key importance, with private hospitals following the latest guidance from NHS England; hospitals and clinics have developed their own specific safety procedures, although it is likely to be along the following lines:

GP consultations
Generally, the first point of call for accessing care remains a GP consultation. This may either be a remote or face to face consultation with the patient's GP, or a telephone consultation with our WPA Remote GP service. If the GP recommends a referral to a specialist, then they may well be given the name of a specialist or be given the option to select a specialist at a private hospital convenient to them.

If a patient does not know how to make an appointment with an appropriate specialist, WPA Customer Service Officers are able to assist in providing a list of private hospitals and names of specialists.

Out-patient and face-to-face consultations
Depending on the condition, some initial consultations will still take place remotely. If a face-to-face consultation is booked, then often the day before the appointment, the patient will receive a triage call from the hospital to check whether they have experienced any Covid-19 symptoms; if displaying symptoms, they will be asked to get tested, self-isolate and only re-book and attend their appointment once they have a clear test.

On arrival at the hospital patients may be asked further questions about any symptoms and have their temperature checked. During the out-patient appointment personal protective equipment (PPE) is likely to be worn by staff and the patient will have to wear a face covering. Any out-patient tests such as MRIs, ultrasound scans, x-rays and blood tests may take longer than normal, due to cleaning of equipment and communal areas between patients.

Surgery
A synopsis of the current guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) as of 27 July 2021 is as follows:

* People having planned care involving any form of anaesthesia or sedation should follow comprehensive social-distancing and hand-hygiene measures for 14 days before admission. They should also be advised to have a PCR test 3 days before admission and self-isolate from the day of the test until the day of admission.
* For all other planned procedures, including diagnostic tests and imaging, people should be advised to follow comprehensive social distancing and hand hygiene measures for 14 days before having planned care.
* For people who are at greater risk of getting Covid-19, or having a poorer outcome from it, the guideline says they should be advised that some types of surgery, for example cardiac, carry additional risks for people with Covid-19, and that they should consider self-isolating for 14 days before a planned procedure.
* The guideline says that people should be informed that their planned care is likely to be postponed if they test positive, have symptoms of Covid-19, are not clinically well enough or need to self-isolate after contact with someone with Covid-19 (for example, as identified by the NHS Test and Trace system).
* People having inpatient surgery who stay in hospital for more than 5 days should be tested between 5 and 7 days after admission, in line with current advice. The guideline also recommends that all people going from hospital to other care settings are tested before they are discharged.

On the day of admission, patients will have their temperature checked and be asked to confirm that they have self-isolated since their Covid test and continue to be Covid-19 symptom free. Patients will be taken to their private room which will have been deep cleaned between patients. As part of the surgical consent process, the patient will discuss their procedure with their surgeon and any additional risks associated with Covid-19. Depending upon the surgery type, most patients will be required to self-isolate for a further 14 days after discharge.

For further information go to: NICE guideline [NG179] – COVID-19 rapid guideline: arranging planned care in hospitals and diagnostic services

If you have any questions or concerns, you should raise these with your specialist or hospital.

WPA will fund a PCR test under the terms of your health insurance policy if you are clinically required to have one prior to treatment.

WPA will fund an NHS approved Covid-19 antibody test to see if you have/have not had this disease, where a medical professional recommends this is clinically necessary as a part of your treatment plan. We require you to contact us for prior approval.

Public Health England and the pharmaceutical industry have confirmed that there are no plans to supply the private sector with Covid-19 vaccinations for the foreseeable future. Only the NHS will be supplied with the vaccines, which are being rolled out on a priority basis as advised by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to prevent Covid-19 mortality and to provide protection of health and social care staff and systems. For more information visit www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Claims can be made via the WPA Health app.

Accessing your secure online account is even easier with the WPA Health app
Download the app for iOS on the App Store or for Android on Google Play.

With WPA Health, you can access your secure messages, view your WPA policy documents and communications, make cash benefit claims, book an appointment with a Remote GP and lots more. Setting up and registering takes about two minutes to complete.

Alternatively:
a. For private medical insurance (PMI) claims contact us in the usual way. You can find the different contact methods in your Policy/Company Scheme Guide or by clicking here.

b. For cash plan claims (dental or optical) please sign in to your secure online account on the WPA website and go to the 'make a cash/dental claim' section.

We will pay for initial investigations needed to diagnose a new condition and the initial short-term treatment up to the point of stabilisation (generally no longer than three months). Please contact us to pre-authorise any treatment, as outlined above.

Any new claims will be reviewed against the specific policy/scheme terms, based on the information supplied by the referring GP and/or treating healthcare professional. Additionally, there is support available via WPA's Health and Wellbeing Helplines and Remote GP Service.