At Joint Reaction, our consultants share a passion for helping anyone of any age access in-depth orthopaedic knowledge and diagnosis at the highest levels of expertise, drawing on their extensive experience from their own private practices, the NHS and the military as Army surgeons.

The objectives of Joint Reaction are:

• To provide rapid appointments with a member of the team, allowing fast assessment and advice
• To deliver specialist advice in the field of sports medicine and orthopaedic care
• To offer a multi-disciplinary approach between surgery and physiotherapy. This allows us to provide patients with a range of operative and non-operative treatments
• To offer high standard protocols and treatment with audited results
• To offer ongoing education for general practitioners, physiotherapists, nurses and other allied health professionals

The ethics of “going private”

Our consultants have spent much of their careers moving between the NHS and private practice. For part of their time, they are providing a world-class 24-hour trauma service for the 360,000 inhabitants of our local areas via the NHS in Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. Their private practices provide treatments for both self-funded patients and those with private medical insurance.

Whether you see them privately or via the NHS, their professional diagnosis and treatment plan would be the same. The major differences are the timescales and the location of your treatment or surgery. Our consultants can see and treat you at over 20 private hospitals and clinics, in less time and in greater comfort and privacy.

Think of it as choosing to fly business class. It’s the same airplane, the same pilots, the same airport and the same destination – wherever you sit. When you pay to “turn left”, the major difference is in the service: lounge access, early boarding, private cabin area, luxury seats, (much) better food and a dedicated cabin crew to look after you.

You feel special and cared for and arrive ready for the adventure ahead (along with your luggage). The money from your ticket is making that flight profitable and affordable for all, as business class is the most profitable class of all for airlines.

The same applies to private medicine. It’s less stressful, more comfortable, more convenient. And if you have private health insurance, someone else is paying for it!

“Jumping the queue”

Many people worry that private healthcare is somehow ”jumping the queue” and depriving others of treatment. This is absolutely not the case and often quite the reverse.

NHS waiting lists are not a case of “first come, first served”. Each list is actively managed and dynamic, with positions shifting according to various factors.

 Indeed, private consultants can help via the Waiting List Initiative, where they can elect to take on patients suitable for treatment in a private hospital by considering their overall health and suitability, not just when they were first referred.

So by going private with Joint Reaction, you are in no way ‘blocking’ a senior with limited mobility from getting a hip replacement, for example.

Helping the NHS

By going private, you are actively helping the NHS by:

• Getting a timely diagnosis and treatment to prevent further deterioration and ongoing costs for the NHS.
• Potentially “freeing up” an NHS place on the waiting list for person without health insurance and reducing waiting times.
• Saving the NHS the cost of your surgery, treatments (with the exception of medications) and rehabilitation, enabling already stretched NHS funds to go further.
• Using private medical facilities both in and separate to NHS hospitals, maximising the 24/7 use of these facilities for all. Many NHS waiting lists are being reduced by treatments provided under the NHS but delivered in private medical facilities.
• Giving surgeons and specialists the opportunities to help with “proof of success” for state-of-the-art treatments and procedures not yet available on the NHS. Their successes help build the case for the NHS to adopt these procedures to help others in the future.