Guides

The questions that come up on the way to deciding — answered plainly, with the bits nobody publishes marked as such.

• Can you change hospital on the NHS in Scotland?

  Scotland has no equivalent of England's Right to Choose. What that means in practice, and what you can still ask your GP.

• What happens to your NHS place if you go private?

  A private consultation is not the same as private treatment, and aftercare is the cost nobody advertises. What is documented and what isn't.

• How much does going private cost in Scotland?

  Real published prices from Scottish private hospitals, what the packages include, and the costs that sit outside them.

• Should you pay for a private scan rather than private treatment?

  A private MRI or consultation costs hundreds rather than thousands. What that buys, and what it doesn't.

• What do NHS waiting time figures actually mean?

  Public Health Scotland publish two different waiting times for the same thing, and neither answers the question people have.

• NHS waiting times glossary

  Plain-English definitions of the terms used in Scottish NHS waiting time statistics.