“With an Equipsme plan, you’ve got that peace of mind that there’s somewhere else to turn to. For the price of a coffee a month you can’t go too far wrong, in my opinion!”
Ailsa, 59, had had previous joint replacements on both knees in 2019 and 2020. When she started to get more knee trouble in 2025 she turned to Equipsme for help
Ailsa says: “I’ve never worked anywhere with a private health insurance benefit before, so when it was offered up by my employer it was too good an opportunity to miss.
“For such a small amount of money - just a few pounds of P11D tax a year – it was a bit of a no-brainer for me. Who doesn’t want to have a healthcare safety-net nowadays, with the NHS struggling as it is? For the price of a coffee a month you can’t go too far wrong, in my opinion! And the proof was in the pudding because it wasn’t long after I signed up that I needed to use it.
Knee trouble
“Following knee surgery some years ago my right knee started giving me some trouble again. I sought advice from my GP and they suggested that I should go back to my surgeon. However, there was a considerable waiting time. So in the interim I contacted Equipsme to see if they could help.
“I got in touch to make sure I’d be covered, and got a reference number so I could make an appointment at a nearby private hospital. I managed to get in to see someone very quickly. They even did an MRI that same day to see what was going on. It was all incredibly fast!
“They said I needed an arthroscopy, which is a key-hole surgery under general anesthetic with a camera. That was organised for just a couple of weeks later. When they undertook the arthroscopy, they found some debris in there – where the cartilage had been wearing away, and they were able to scrape it out and clear it up.
“I’m very lucky that it made a difference pretty quickly – and I only needed two weeks off work. My right knee is still a bit temperamental, but for now it’s going on well enough and is certainly an improvement on what it was like before.
Buying time
“At some point in the future I’m going to need a full knee replacement, but they don’t last forever so they advise you to wait as long as you possibly can. Hopefully I’ve now got a bit more time and can put it off for a few more years yet.
“I feel very lucky my employer chose to make this sort of investment in staff health. By going through Equipsme I’ve easily saved myself 6 months of waiting in worsening pain. That’s got to be well worth it for anyone. And you just never know when you’re going to need it.
“I’m not faulting the NHS – they do an amazing job, but if it isn’t an emergency you do have to wait for it. With an Equipsme plan you’ve got that peace of mind that there’s somewhere else to turn to.
“If you’re lucky enough to have one you should absolutely be using it. It’s helped me - without a shadow of a doubt, and I can’t fault the service I’ve received. So a big thank you to Equipsme for sorting my knee out and buying me some extra time before a major operation!”
