Ad description

A TV ad for a health insurance provider stated "When you're ill it can put your life on hold. If you need to see a specialist, AXA PPP Healthcare will find the right one for you. We'll also make sure you'll see them fast. So you can get on with your life". On-screen text stated "GP referral required. Excludes pre-existing conditions. Conditions apply".

Issue

A viewer challenged whether the claim "We'll make sure you see them fast" misleadingly implied that the advertisers were able to book priority appointments, because they believed they only had access to the diaries of specialists and would book clients in the earliest available appointment

Response

AXA PPP Healthcare (AXA) said they had extensive knowledge of specialists' areas of practice across the UK and they were able to use that knowledge to source a suitable specialist with a specific interest in the patient's condition and to book an appointment for their customers at a convenient time and location. They stated that, in cases where the patient wanted that to be done quickly and where they had been provided with an open referral by their GP, they could support them through the Fast Track Appointment Service. They said they had built many excellent working relationships with specialists as well as their secretaries and the hospitals in which they worked, which meant they had been able to influence specialists to arrange additional appointments for customers when speed was of paramount importance.

AXA said the ad made no direct or implied comparison with any other service or means of accessing a specialist appointment, nor did it claim that they were able to book priority or special appointments with specialists. However, they said most people's experience of accessing specialist treatment was through the NHS and they believed that consumer's understanding of "fast" in that context was relative to the customers' experience of access via the NHS. They said that understanding was supported by customer research carried out in 2013 and they provided examples of that. They provided a copy of a report into the health care system by an independent charity, which showed the median waiting time for out-patient treatments in the NHS was five weeks in June 2013, and considered that that was indicative of the waiting times that NHS patients could expect following a GP referral to a specialist. They provided data showing the number of days from the point when the customer first contacted AXA to the earliest appointment they were able to offer them through the Fast Track Appointment Service during the months of September, October and November 2013, including the median waiting time during that period.

AXA also considered that the Fast Track Appointment would be faster than the standard private referral process. They understood that in over 80% of cases when the patient's need for a specialist appointment was established, the GP would identify a single named specialist to undertake the consultation and that there were various potential delays inherent in such a named referral process. They stated that, where a patient had an open referral and contacted their Fast Track Appointment Service, AXA would phone up to three suitable specialists in order to find them an appointment as soon as possible. They explained that if there were three justifiably qualified specialists in a particular area, a GP making a referral to one named specialist would be likely to have a 33% chance of finding the one with the earliest appointment, whereas their Fast Track Appointments Service would always be able to find the one with the earliest appointment. They said it therefore followed that the Fast Track Appointment would be faster than the standard private referral process. They said an internal survey in 2013 had shown a high level of satisfaction with the speed of accessing an appointment with a specialist and more than 90% of customers had stated that the Fast Track Appointment Service had exceeded or at least met their expectations.

Clearcast said they took great care to ensure that they understood the mechanics and conditions of the service provided by AXA, and that the language used in the ad could be supported. They said they had been particularly conscious to avoid any provocative claims or hanging comparisons such as "faster" and the approved claim was therefore "We'll also make sure you see them fast". They said they had been satisfied at the time of clearance that the speediness of AXAs Fast Track Appointment Service was represented fairly in the ad, did not promote priority or dominance over other health services, and that "fast" was a fair and true statement. They said AXA had access to consultants' diaries and they had seen data that showed that AXA were able to offer appointments with consultants within days of GP referral and contact with AXA. They stated that, despite no comparative claims being made or shown in the advert, AXA had explained in their response that typical GP referral and consultant contact was not always an immediate communication. They said written requests could cause delay in getting that initial appointment, meaning that the appointment date with a specialist would naturally be further along down the line. They said nothing in the ad claimed or implied that AXA customers would be given priority over other patients, but simply included a statement of how AXA had shown themselves to operate.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted that the ad stated "If you need to see a specialist, AXA PPP Healthcare will find the right one for you. We'll also make sure you'll see them fast". We considered that consumers were likely to understand that to mean that AXA would be able to book them an appointment to see a suitable specialist within a relatively short amount of time, but that it did not necessarily imply that AXA had access to priority appointments or to a prioritised booking system. We noted that the independent report provided by AXA showed the median waiting time for out-patient treatment in the NHS was five weeks, but understood that that data referred to the total waiting time for consultant-led treatment and not simply the waiting time for the first appointment with a consultant and was therefore not directly comparable to AXA's Fast Track Appointment Service. Although we acknowledged that consumers were likely to relate waiting times for a medical appointment to some extent on the standard waiting time for a similar appointment within the NHS, we considered that, in this context, consumers would understand a short waiting time to be a number of days rather than weeks, regardless of the waiting times on the NHS. We noted the data provided by AXA relating to the median waiting time for an appointment within the Fast Track Appointment Service and considered that they had substantiated that patients using that service were able to see a specialist within a short amount of time. Because of that, we concluded that the ad was unlikely to mislead.

We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rules  3.1 3.1 Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  (Misleading advertising),  3.9 3.9 Broadcasters must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that the audience is likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.  (Substantiation) and  3.12 3.12 Advertisements must not mislead by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product or service.  (Exaggeration), but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

BCAP Code

3.1     3.12     3.9    


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