Patients with private health insurance are asked to help out cash strapped NHS

Two clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England have admitted that they are encouraging GPs to ask patients with private medical insurance to think about using it to obtain treatment in an effort to reduce NHS costs.

As reported by the GP magazine Pulse,1 since November 2015 NHS Mid Essex CCG has been asking GPs to discuss with privately insured patients how they might be able to use their policies for medical treatment since November 2015.

The move has resulted in a 6% increase in referrals to private healthcare for the first six months of this year when compared with …