Coronavirus help and support

You can still have a phone or video consultation if that feels right for you and if your consultant thinks it’s appropriate. You could also use our online directory Finder to locate a consultant who’s taking on new patients. Otherwise, the clinicians on our specialist patients support teams can help. They can provide personalised support to help you stay in the best possible health for when your treatment is ready to go ahead. Just call your usual Bupa phone number and ask for a call-back from a clinician.

Yes, we can pre-authorise your treatment. Some hospitals are still taking extra precautionary steps for day- and in-patients to keep you safe. This might include asking you to self-isolate before treatment and pre-admission testing. Talk to your consultant about your procedure, as the hospital policy may vary. It's important to follow their guidance otherwise your procedure could be postponed.

If you can't get hold of a GP you can use our Direct Access^† service or Digital GP. Use Direct Access for concerns about cancer, mental health or muscles, bones and joints. For other concerns, you can use Digital GP provided by Babylon to have a consultation by video call. You can download the app using that same link.

^†Direct Access telephone services are available as long as the symptoms are covered under the policy. If your cover excludes conditions you had before your policy started, we’ll ask you to provide evidence from your GP that your symptoms are not pre-existing for a period of up to two years from policy start date (or five years in the case of mental health). We can then refer you to a consultant or therapist through the Direct Access service. Always call us first to check your eligibility.

Speak to your hospital, clinic or consultant, as they’ll be best placed to advise you. Also let your consultant know that we’ll cover you for phone and video consultations, if that makes it easier to get an appointment. You may also find some of our other support services helpful until you can get an appointment.

Digital GP
Digital GP provided by Babylon lets you speak to a GP via live video chat.

Physiotherapy
Our physiotherapists offer home exercise programmes. These are designed to help you manage muscle, joint and bone conditions.

Mental health support
If you’re struggling emotionally and you have mental health cover, we can support you. For example, this could be with online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Or it could be remote or face-to-face consultations with therapists and consultants. These options are subject to policy.

You’ll need to contact us so we can check whether you’re covered. If appropriate, we can pre-authorise your appointment for your new consultant. Do let your new consultant know that we’ll cover phone and video consultations, too, if that makes things easier.

We cover treatment for complications or conditions related to COVID-19 if they meet our standard policy terms. For example, if the proposed treatment is both evidence-based and in line with best clinical practice. We’ll consider each symptom or condition individually.

We offer a range of mental health support options. These include remote consultations, our Family Mental HealthLine and our Mental Health Hub.

Consultations and online treatment
We offer remote mental health consultations and online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This is subject to your policy.

Direct Access^†
You could also use our Direct Access service. This means you can get an appointment usually without having to see a GP first. For group schemes, availability of services may vary.

Family Mental HealthLine
The Family Mental HealthLine is for parents and carers to talk to us about their child’s emotional wellbeing.

Mental Health Hub
Our Mental Health Hub offers a wide range of information and support resources.

^†Direct Access telephone services are available as long as the symptoms are covered under the policy. If your cover excludes conditions you had before your policy started, we’ll ask you to provide evidence from your GP that your symptoms are not pre-existing for a period of up to two years from policy start date (or five years in the case of mental health) before we can refer you to a consultant or therapist through the Direct Access service. For rolling moratorium underwritten members we will ask for evidence each time you claim for a condition not claimed for before. Always call us first to check your eligibility.

If you have health insurance with us, you can access several services by phone or video from the comfort and convenience of home. For example our 24/7 help line, virtual GP appointments and assessment services.

Anytime HealthLine

With Anytime HealthLine, you can call a nurse or GP and get their professional advice 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Some of the things you can speak to a nurse about include:

Digital GP provided by Babylon
Get 24/7 access to telephone and video appointments with GPs and other healthcare experts through your health insurance. You can also use the symptom checker to get instant health information and advice about what to do next. You will not be charged for using Digital GP and it won't affect your claims in any way. Use the symptom checker and live chat feature to get quick answers about COVID-19. You can also get instant health information on other conditions too.

Rapid Cardiac Assessment Service
This service means you can have virtual consultations with a cardiologist. You'll need a referral from your GP or a Babylon GP on the Digital GP app before you call. This service is subject to the benefits and limitations of your policy. We can only offer this service if it is appropriate for your case.

Remote Skin Assessment Service
Get fast and convenient access to remote tests if you're concerned about skin cancer. With this service you'll need to take and upload some images for a specialist to assess. You'll receive your results just 48 hours after uploading them. This service is subject to the benefits and limitations of your policy.

We offer COVID-19 testing in line with public health and the Government guidelines. We offer antibody and antigen tests (with some restrictions).

Antibody tests

If you have antibodies to COVID-19, it suggests you have been infected with it before. The rapid antibody test can tell you if you have detectable antibodies to COVID-19. But it cannot confirm when you had it or how long any antibodies may last. A simple finger prick blood test will give you a result within 15 minutes. You can have this test from a clinician in one of our participating health clinics. Plus, you’ll have access to our team of nurses to discuss the results if you want to.

You can also have this test if you've not developed any symptoms of COVID-19 before but are interested in whether you may have previously been infected. A positive result means there are antibodies detectable in your blood. But this doesn't mean that you are protected from future COVID-19 infection. Nor does it mean you can't pass it on to others.

As such you should stay at home if possible and away from others if you receive a positive result.

This test can only show you if antibodies are present in your blood. It cannot show antibodies produced in response to vaccinations currently given in the UK. It should not be used for this purpose.

Antigen tests

Bupa Health Clinics also offer an antigen (nasal and throat swab) testing service. This detects active infection with COVID-19. This is available to business customers first and can be used as part of a screening regime for businesses to allow the safe return of their employees to the workplace.

Our existing private health insurance policies don’t cover these tests to screen for or diagnose a suspected case of COVID-19. However, we will fund an antigen test as part of pre-operative/pre-treatment assessment for treatment covered by your policy.

We continue to update the latest advice on testing that we provide to our customers, as well as our own return-to-work strategy.

NHS England updated their guidance on 01 June 2022. As such, we have begun transitioning back to the infection prevention methods we had in place before the pandemic. This includes changes to wearing face masks in healthcare settings and pre-appointment screening.

This means that neither customers nor staff have to wear a face mask or covering, unless you'd prefer to do so.

Our clinicians will continue to wear a mask if you have respiratory symptoms. This is part of the personal protective equipment (PPE) required for transmission-based precautions.

Our customer-facing staff will also continue to test twice a week for COVID-19 using lateral flow tests. And, they will additionally test if they have symptoms of a respiratory infection, or have a high temperature.

To support our customers who are being treated for COVID-19, we will pay a cash benefit where this is included in their policy. The NHS and Public Health England co-ordinate all cases and manage all resources. It’s done this way so that the Government can monitor, assess and manage the situation.

We're also covering treatment for mental health conditions relating to COVID-19. You can get fast access to expert advice through our services including:

• Digital GP services (provided by Babylon)
• Anytime HealthLine
• Family Mental HealthLine

Our Bupa-recognised consultants know that they can offer telephone and video consultations, where they are medically appropriate.

You can find out if you have COVID-19 now by taking a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test or a lateral flow test (LFT).

We offer a PCR COVID-19 testing kit to use at home. These are available for both consumers and corporate clients. The kit contains a nasal and throat swab plus instructions. The result can tell you if you’re currently infected with COVID-19.

You’ll receive your kit within 36 hours of ordering. You'll get your results back within 48 hours of your swab arriving at the lab.^*

We also offer lateral flow testing (LFT) kits for both home use and corporate clients. With an LFT you will receive your result within 20 minutes.

^*Please note, we can't take responsibility for any delays with Royal Mail deliveries.

At selected health centres, we offer a COVID-19 rapid antibody test. This can tell you if you have detectable antibodies to COVID-19. If you do, it would suggest you’ve previously been infected with it. The test cannot confirm when you had it, or how long any antibodies may last.

This is available if you’re an individual or a business. And it doesn't matter whether you’re a Bupa customer or not.

Multiple COVID-19 vaccines are now licensed for use in the UK. Currently, vaccination is only being carried out by the NHS to support those most in need. But when the time is right, we plan to offer the vaccine to our corporate customers - ­just as we do already with the flu vaccine.

Throughout the pandemic we have reviewed the services we offer and the way we offer them. Across our care homes, clinics, dental practices, hospitals and more, we’re doing all we can to keep you and our own people safe. For example, our staff continue to wear PPE. We've followed all safety measures and added extra services to support our customers.

We also offer ways to have appointments with Bupa's clinical experts by phone or video call. If you need to see a nurse, doctor, physiotherapist, counsellor or dentist ­- we can help.

We offer both antibody and antigen tests for COVID-19 (with some restrictions). For businesses, we offer a range of ways to help you get your people back to work safely.

Yes. We offer a range of flexible and convenient options for our corporate customers. For example, our PCR COVID-19 and LFT COVID-19 home testing kits are available to all businesses with five employees or more. These are tests for current COVID-19 infection.

We also offer asymptomatic screening for COVID-19. This is testing for COVID-19 in those without symptoms using lateral flow tests. You can't buy these as one-off tests - they can be used as part of a screening programme, to support return to work safely.

Please contact us for the latest information on your options.

Your employees can access a range of health support and services from home.

Video-chat with a GP
Digital GP service^†† (provided by Babylon) comes with an app that also includes a symptom checker. Your employees can look up a wide range of conditions, including COVID-19.

Talk to a nurse 24/7
Employees can call the Anytime HealthLine on 0345 601 3216^{^^} for general health and wellbeing advice. Lines are open and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Talk to a consultant
All Bupa-recognised consultants now offer telephone and/or video consultations, where medically appropriate. Some consultants are not yet set up for video, but all are available by phone. Your employees can search for a consultant on our online directory Finder.

Talk to a physiotherapist

If they have a muscle, bone or joint condition, Bupa-recognised physiotherapists are available by telephone or video. Your employees should check their policy guide for further information.

Dental services
If you provide dental cover, we offer your employees a range of routine and emergency dental services from home.

Support for mental health and wellbeing

We have expanded our mental health support. If your employees’ policies include mental health cover, they can have consultations with Bupa-recognised therapists by phone or video. We’re also offering online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Your employees can call our Direct Access team^† on 0345 609 0111^{^} and they could be referred to a specialist, usually without needing to see a GP first.

Plus, there’s information and advice in our Mental Health Hub. If your employees are concerned about a child’s mental health, they can call our Family Mental HealthLine on 0345 266 7938^{^}.

^{^}We may record or monitor our calls. Our mental health nurses and advisers offer support from 8am until 6pm, Monday to Friday.

^{^^}Calls may be recorded and to maintain the quality of our service we may monitor some of our calls, always respecting the confidentiality of the call.

^†Direct Access telephone services are available for symptoms covered by the scheme. If that scheme excludes pre-existing conditions, we’ll ask for evidence from a GP that those symptoms did not pre-exist for up to two years prior to the scheme’s start-date (or five years for mental health) before referral to a consultant through our Direct Access service. Always call us first to check eligibility. Bupa Anytime HealthLine, Digital GP and Family Mental HealthLine are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority or the Prudential Regulation Authority.

^††Customers who live in the Isle of Man do not have access to Digital GP provided by Babylon but can access GP24 provided by HealthHero. Some corporate schemes don't include access to Digital GP or GP24, please check your scheme documents or give us a call. Calls may be recorded and, to maintain the quality of our Bupa Anytime HealthLine and Family Mental HealthLine services, a nursing manager may monitor some calls, always respecting the confidentiality of the call.

Many of our business customers have access to the Digital GP service (provided by Babylon). Talk to your account manager if you’re not sure whether it’s included in your group cover. Digital GP is a 24/7 app-based service which is fast, convenient and confidential. It includes:

• phone or video appointments (usually within 24 hours, and often sooner)
• a symptom checker in the app
• a delivery or collection service for prescriptions^‡‡

^‡Customers who live in the Isle of Man do not have access to Digital GP provided by Babylon but can access GP24 provided by HealthHero. Some corporate schemes don't include access to Digital GP or GP24, please check your scheme documents or give us a call.

^‡‡Whilst click and collect services or delivery is free, the cost of the prescription is paid for by the individual as this is a private prescription. Click and collect private prescriptions can usually be picked up within 60 minutes from your chosen pharmacy, depending on your pharmacy opening hours. You can collect over the weekend at selected pharmacies. Prescription delivery is available Monday to Saturday - same day delivery in Greater London and next day delivery in the rest of the UK if you select before 5pm.

Yes, they can. Our Healthy Minds and Key EAP services are available to your employees as always.

COVID-19 has had a big impact on mental health. Speak to your account manager for more information and support materials.

We’re also offering remote consultations. We’ll cover telephone and video calls with all Bupa-recognised consultants, where medically appropriate and where the technology is available.

Our team has done all the necessary training, guidance and advice based on the latest information from the national public health agencies. If your employees are showing symptoms of COVID-19, the team can also provide guidance and signposting to the World Health Organization and NHS Choices websites.

Yes, your employees can access our occupational health services by phone or video appointment. For face-to-face appointments, our partner Optima will contact your employee directly. They will do this on the day before their appointment to do a risk assessment.

Yes, we can offer a range of options to help you implement a safe return-to-work strategy. These could include online health assessments, temperature checks, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) home testing kits and COVID-19 screening with lateral flow tests.

We offer an extended range of services that you can access remotely. This includes virtual dental and physiotherapy services, depending on your policy.

Physiotherapy
For fast advice from home from one of our experienced physiotherapists, please call us on 0345 604 0612. Lines are open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 11am to 5pm.

Dental care
You can talk to a Bupa Dental Care dentist by telephone or video, even if you don’t normally attend one of our practices. This service is free and doesn’t affect your benefit limits. To use this service, please call 0333 015 5255. Lines are open Monday to Friday 9.30am to 5pm. We may record or monitor our calls.

Dental practices are using exceptional PPE to keep everyone safe. But don’t worry; we’re covering the cost of the exceptional PPE, up to your benefit limits. As a policy exception, we’ll pay for the additional PPE costs as well as the cost of treatment out of the relevant dental benefit (subject to your terms and conditions and normal benefit limit) for any claims dated between 13 July 2020 and the end of 2022.

Hospital treatment
We’ve waived the usual exclusion for any hospital in-patient or day-case admissions relating to COVID-19, where you have this benefit on your policy, from 12 March 2020 until further notice.

Online health check
For the main member on your cash plan policy, we’ve extended access to our online health check benefit until the end of 2022. This is a wellbeing portal that provides you with a lifestyle score plus recommendations, online coaching and support tools. We have sent you details of how to access this.

Our cash plans do not cover tests to check whether you have COVID-19 or not.

Our cash plan policies exclude the treatments, goods or services arising from any pandemic. However, we’ve waived the usual exclusion for any hospital in-patient or day-case admissions relating to COVID-19, where you have this benefit on your policy, from 12 March 2020 until further notice.

Our cash plan policies exclude the treatments, goods or services arising from any pandemic and will still apply to relevant benefits. These include consultations, tests and scans (where these benefits are covered by your policy). However, we have temporarily waived the pandemic exclusion for hospital cash benefits. See our FAQ: What’s happening with the hospital cash plan benefit?

You can cancel your policy at any time. If your policy is via your employer, you will need to contact your HR department.

Policies for you or your family
You can find information on how to cancel your policy in your membership guide. If you decide to re-join at a later date, you can only join a product that’s available at that time, which may not match the one you currently have, and it must be in line with other age and eligibility criteria. The only qualifying period that’s applicable to cash plans is on products that include the birth and adoption benefit, which is subject to a one-year qualifying period. Please refer to your table of cover or membership guide for further information.

Policies via employers
You’ll need to contact your HR department, as we can’t do it on your behalf.