If you have a private medical insurance policy, you need to call your insurance company prior to both a private consultation and admission to a private hospital to obtain pre-authorisation.

Your insurance company will provide you with an authorisation code to supply to your consultant and the private hospital.

If you are insured under a company health scheme, you must confirm with your employer whether there are any potential restrictions to your treatment before you arrive.

Some insurers are implementing a ‘preferred provider’ strategy and it is possible that attempts will be made your insurer at preauthorisation to deflect the patient towards certain other consultants even though a specific consultant has been chosen by you, your GP/other specialist consultant.

The reasons given for this deflection may vary but often it is stated that the consultant’s fees are too high. You should ignore this type of diversion as you should always be able to obtain a fee estimate before deciding if you wish to proceed with your choice of consultant.

Although at the moment only a small number of patients may be affected by ‘preferred provider’, there is however an increasing trend towards this type of American styled 'Managed Care'.

All professional bodies have made it clear that patients should have the right to see the consultant of their choice and that they should not be diverted for any reason by the insurer.

It is hoped that these types of restrictive networks do not take root because if they do then continuity of care and choice for GPs and patients will be significantly restricted.