Nuffield Health
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Like dealing with the NHS, but with credit card in hand
Before booking an appointment, Nuffield's Appointments Office takes your credit card details, saying payment will be taken the day before the consultation. But once you've booked, a third party company emails an invoice with OVERDUE written in red at the top. You fill in your card details and pay. The short confirmation email mentions 'outstanding balances', 'payment card', 'charges', 'expenses, and 'payment' 13 times. It also informs you that payment for things like scans will be taken on the day of the procedure. As if! Nuffield asks for a referral; your GP sends one; but Nuffield can't find it. The consultant doesn't really need the referral; after the consultation, she does her report and passes it to her secretary. 5 days later it gets posted by snail mail and arrives, dog-eared and water-stained, partly illegible. An email copy goes to your GP, but it never arrives so you have to send him a photo of the original mess. Back at the Nuffield, the consultant arranges a scan. Radiology sends an email inviting you to phone for an appointment. But the first thing the scanners want is your card payment - before they will even look at the appointments book. You pay, they book the appointment (in 3 weeks' time) and ask for your email address, despite having just emailed you. You have to spell it out twice. The payment confirmation is emailed but it bounces back, so you have to phone and spell out your email address all over again. An exasperating experience: stressful, just like the NHS, but having to pay for it.