Rosher.Net

Well, the BUPA membership has sat in my list of salary benefits for many years, unused and doing little but accruing deductions for taxable benefit… until now. Feeling slightly un-British at the thought of queue jumping I got referred by my NHS doctor for sleep clinic. Some of you will know I can be a tad… noisy… during the night. Some might even accuse me of snoring…

Well the snoring has got so bad now that I’m suffering hearing loss, and waking myself up (according to Miss) every few minutes. Just enough to ruin sleep but not enough for me to actually be aware of waking, so that I wake up tired, irritable and deaf!

So, with a letter of referral from my doc, and my BUPA membership certificate in hand I make an appointment at Spire Hospital Bristol, musing that in my youth the site used to home Tiffany’s Nightclub, where I did my best to go deaf, headbanging to Rock on Tuesdays (but don’t wear boots because the bouncers would stamp on your feet, checking for steel toecaps…). The letter of appointment duly arrives (very fast), and I make a newbie courtesy call to BUPA to find out how the process works…

I’m not covered. Sleep deprivation, apnoea and consequent symptoms are not covered. Now, do I feel more British as I can now queue up for treatment under the good old NHS, or do I rant about bloody useless private health insurance? Ok, it’s both, thirded with a committment to opt out of the bloody useless nonsense as soon as possible. Hey ho, bring on the ear plugs.