Private healthcare is a purchase as well as a clinical encounter. Asking about both is reasonable, and the clinic’s manner when answering is often more informative than the answers.
Who will I actually see?
Ask for the name and the GMC number of the doctor you will be seeing, not the name of the clinic or of the consultant whose photograph is on the homepage.
Then ask who does the follow-up. In some clinics the first appointment is with a senior consultant and subsequent ones are not. That may be fine, but you should know before you commit.
Are they a specialist in my problem?
Being on the Specialist Register in a field is not the same as seeing your condition regularly. A general psychiatrist and a psychiatrist who assesses adult ADHD every week are both psychiatrists.
Ask how often they see your particular problem. Vagueness here is worth noticing.
What does the fee cover, and what does it not?
Ask for the consultation fee, the follow-up fee, and what triggers an extra charge. The usual additions are tests, scans, reports, letters to your GP, prescriptions and anything that happens between appointments.
What private care costs sets out where the extras usually appear.
How long is the appointment?
A first assessment of a complex problem in twenty minutes is a different product from the same assessment in an hour. Ask the length, and judge whether it fits the problem you are bringing.
What happens afterwards?
Will you get a written summary? Will a letter go to your GP, and with your consent? How do you ask a question in the week after the appointment, and is there a charge?
Continuity is where private care often turns out thinner than people expect.
If a procedure is being discussed
Ask how many of these the doctor performs each year, what their complication rate is, what happens if there is a complication, and where you would be treated if something went wrong at two in the morning.
That last question matters more than it sounds. Many private clinics have no inpatient facilities and no overnight cover.
Questions about the alternative
Ask what would happen if you did nothing, and what the NHS route would involve. A doctor who can describe both without irritation is giving you an honest basis for a decision.
Afterwards, check what you were told
If someone described themselves as a consultant in a specialty, the Specialist Register will confirm it. How to check takes two minutes, and it is better done before you pay than after.