Health screen can save you and your cash

Private medical insurance premiums are soaring, says Edmund Tirbutt. But there are ways to retain peace of mind and reduce what you'd have to pay to go private

Health screenings are becoming increasingly appreciated as a personal finance tool because soaring premium costs have made private medical insurance prohibitively expensive for many.

Private medical insurance can provide valuable peace of mind by enabling you to jump the NHS queue for treatment in the comfort of a private room. But comprehensive family cover for a couple in their early thirties with two children is likely to cost well over £100 a month. A couple in their early sixties may have to pay at least £200 a month, even without covering children.

An increasingly popular alternative to paying for private medical insurance is to purchase a fixed-price operation from a private hospital group as and when it is needed. This saves wasting money on premiums if treatment is in fact never needed. But operations for the more serious illnesses can be extremely costly.

There is a lot to be said for screening to pick up conditions as early as possible, before expensive operations become necessary. Among the most common triumphs of early detection are previously undiagnosed high blood pressure, positive stool tests identifying colorectal cancer, raised blood cholesterol and intraoccular pressure indicating glaucoma.

Smear abnormalities are also not unusual. These do not always indicate the presence of cervical cancer but they do highlight the need for vigilance and continued monitoring.

Sharon Goring, marketing director at the national health screening provider BMI Health Services, says: "It's very rare for any individual to leave one of our screenings without some intervention being suggested. Beyond that, in our Wimpole Street centre in London alone, at least once a month a serious issue is identified and a course of action recommended.

"With most of the common causes of premature death, early identification enables appropriate intervention, which in turn increases the chances of full recovery. A good example of this is colorectal cancer, for which the five-year survival rate increases from 40 per cent to 95 per cent if it is picked up early enough."

The screenings also appeal to many because they allow you to discuss all your health concerns in a one-stop-shop approach to medical professionals, free from time pressure and at a time of your choice.

Although basic check-ups can be obtained on the NHS, these do not compare with even the most basic of private screenings and will not necessarily be available at times convenient to you.

Jane McAndrews, who lives in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, certainly feels the £225 she paid for a Wellwoman Health Assessment with Bupa Wellness was a sound investment. The 48-year-old housewife, whose 50-year-old husband Neil is a property developer, had undergone a couple of abnormal cervical smear tests and was concerned about accounts of NHS misdiagnosis she had read about. Her 90-minute session, which included a mammography, was designed for women who want to focus on the early detection of breast cancer and gynaecological problems. A consultation with a specially trained nurse also gave her the opportunity to discuss any lifestyle and health concerns she had.

Mrs McAndrews, who has no children but does have four horses to look after, says: "I specifically wanted to be examined by a female, so they fixed me up with a nursing sister. We had detailed discussions about the menopause and other issues, including how to examine myself in the future.

"They process the results then and there and allow you to see the results of the X-ray before you've left, although I had to wait a week for the smear test from the lab. It's definitely money well spent, because it gives you peace of mind and they treat you as an individual in an age when GPs just don't have time for chit-chat."

Providers commonly refer to screenings as being the human equivalent on an MOT and recommend them annually for those aged over 40 and biannually for younger people.

Basic screenings last about one hour and cost between £150 and £200, but they can be lengthier and more costly when mammographies are included, as in Mrs McAndrew's case.

More comprehensive screenings, which meet with greater demand, last around two hours and cost between £300 and £500. They can involve about 40 tests in total compared to a dozen with the basic screenings and the blood tests, in particular, are far more extensive. There is little difference in terms of quality and price between the three main national health screening providers, Nuffield Hospitals Health Screening, which has 42 screening centres, BMI Health Services, which has 35, and Bupa Wellness, which has 32.

Location is normally the most important consideration. So the first step is to contact all three to determine which can offer you the most convenient screening centre. If there is little to choose on that basis, it is worth bearing in mind slight differences in approach. Lifestyle consultations are a major feature with comprehensive screenings with all the three main providers, but only Bupa Wellness includes the more basic formats. The others focus primarily on disease detection.

For all levels of screening Bupa Wellness can give you with a written report before you leave which details the results of blood tests and almost all other investigations. The others send the written results several days later through the post.

Nuffield Hospitals Health Screening is able to give you detailed blood test results verbally on the day, but BMI Health Services, which conducts blood tests at an external laboratory, does not even do this.

BMI Health Services is notable for tailoring its tests according to factors such as age, sex and medical history. This means that it often conducts the most pertinent combination of investigations.

Bupa Wellness, tel: 0845 601 4915

Nuffield Hospitals Health Screening, tel: 0845 671 3000

BMI Health Services, tel: 0870 225 7225