MRI scan waiting time?

People say go private, but for those on the public system is it not the case that they'll have to wait six months before they are covered for MRI or CT scans - so unless you have been on health insurance for the last six months or so you're in for a long wait either way unless you collapse in pain and go to A&E and even there they may not sanction a scan or have the resources to carry out a scan.

In January of 2013 I went to my GP with throat issues, she sent a letter to hospital asking for consultation with ENT doctor, in January of 2014 I received a letter asking me if I intended staying on the list, I said yes as I still get the same issues I complaind about, I then phoned them and said I had been waiting for a year to see an ENT doctor and the person basically said that that's par for the course and the average waiting time to see an ENT doctor in Galway as between 18 months and 2 years. That same evening I signed up for private healthcare; 2 years to see an ENT doctor is not reasonable in my view and if that's indicative of what happens in other departments then it's not good enough so I have no choice but to go private.


However one thing I don't understand about going private is the following:

Say I visit my GP and she says "hmmm not sure what is causing those symptoms, you seem ok but let's get it checked out just in case" - if public I am placed on the non-emergency waiting list which takes forever.

But, if private, am I not also deemed a non-emergency case and thus would be waiting a long time too. I thought tests were based on level of concern/emergency and not if you were public or private. If a patient has private health insurance and their situation is deemed to be non-emergency then will they still be seen fairly quickly?

snubbleste wrote: »

The difference in going private is that you see a consultant much quicker.
The public ENT lists in Galway are scandalous - up to 3 years! There were 4500 people waiting for ENT in Galway a year ago.
Yet if you go private, the exact same consultant will see you within a few months.

but why do you get to see a consultant much quicker on private health insurance if yoru case is deemed to be not urgent?

on top of that, let's see you are public and on a waiting list to see an ENT doctor or whatever and 2 years later you see him and he says "hmmm not sure what's going on here, I think you should get a few tests" - then is there another long wait for the tests? So basically from date of seeing GP to having test done you could be looking at 3-4 years, is that the case?

Unrealistic wrote: »

The consultant spends 30 hours per week receiving patients and divides his time 50:50 between private and public patients. That time is further divided so that the 30 hours per week is split as follows:

5 hours: Urgent (public)
10 hours: Scheduled (public)
5 hours: Urgent (private)
10 hours: Scheduled (private)

It's split 50:50 but if there are 2000 public patients per year and only 1000 private patients then private patients will be seen twice as quickly.

(Numbers made up for the sake of the example but the principle is correct as I understand it.)

thanks for that - certainly is a big incentive to go private

what about post-consultant tests? Are they allocated on a similar basis?

Hmmmm....this isn't very clear to me

pre-existing condition = the insurer doesn't pay

pre-existing complaint i.e. I have headaches, let's have an MRI to make sure it's nothing serious, scan all clear = surely then the insurer covers it