LPAW works with all major UK private health insurers. If you have private health insurance, you may be able to use your policy to cover part or all of the cost of your physiotherapy, osteopathy, or other treatments at our Bow and Stratford East Village clinics.
The process is straightforward – but the specifics vary by insurer and policy. This page explains how it typically works and what you need to do to use your insurance with LPAW.
Before booking, check what your policy covers. Most private health insurance policies cover outpatient physiotherapy, but coverage varies in several important ways:
The most reliable way to check is to call the member services number on the back of your insurance card before booking.
If your policy requires pre-authorisation (most Bupa, AXA, and Cigna policies do), call your insurer and request authorisation for outpatient physiotherapy at LPAW. You will typically need to provide:
Your insurer will issue a pre-authorisation number. Keep this — you will need to provide it to us when you book or attend your first appointment.
Call us on 020 8983 3218 or email admin@lpawclinic.com. Let us know you are using insurance and provide:
We will confirm our registration with your insurer and set up your account accordingly.
Bring your insurance card (if you have one) and pre-authorisation details to your first appointment. Depending on your insurer’s billing arrangement, LPAW may bill the insurer directly, or you may pay at the appointment and claim reimbursement — we will advise you on this when you book.
LPAW’s clinical team includes 19 practitioners, many holding postgraduate qualifications from UCL, King’s College London, and Guy’s and St Thomas’. Lead clinician Mr Arjun Viswanath MSc, MCSP, MPPA – Co-Founder and Consultant Physiotherapist – brings 25+ years of NHS and private experience including BMI London Independent Hospital and Harley Street.
Every clinician joining LPAW completes a mandatory intensive shadowing placement with our Consultant Physiotherapist before seeing patients independently. This is not a standard practice at most clinics – it’s our way of maintaining clinical consistency across the team.
Most physiotherapy and osteopathy treatments at LPAW are coverable under standard private health insurance outpatient benefits. This typically includes:
What is typically not covered under standard outpatient physiotherapy:
If you are unsure whether a specific treatment is covered, call your insurer with the specific treatment name before attending.
This depends on the insurer and the arrangement we have with them. With many major insurers (Bupa, AXA, Cigna), we can bill directly. With others, you may pay at the appointment and submit a claim to your insurer for reimbursement. We will clarify this at the time of booking.
You will need to obtain the GP referral before your Bupa pre-authorisation will be granted. Contact your GP for a referral letter, then call Bupa with the letter to obtain pre-authorisation. We cannot bill Bupa without a valid pre-authorisation number.
If your policy has an excess, you will be responsible for paying the excess amount. Whether this is collected by LPAW or directly by your insurer depends on the billing arrangement. We will clarify this when you contact us about your insurance.
Shockwave therapy (RSWT) is covered by some insurers under physiotherapy treatment plans, and not by others. Vitality and AXA typically cover shockwave when it is clinically indicated within a physiotherapy plan. Bupa coverage for shockwave varies by policy. Call your insurer and ask specifically about shockwave therapy (also referred to as ESWT or RSWT) before attending.
If you exhaust your pre-authorised sessions, you can continue as a self-pay patient at our standard rates. We can also help you request additional sessions from your insurer if clinically justified — your physiotherapist can provide a clinical summary to support this request.
Most policies that cover physiotherapy cover paediatric physiotherapy for children named on the policy. Check your policy’s dependant coverage terms and follow the same pre-authorisation process. Contact us if you need help navigating this.
If your physiotherapist recommends imaging or a specialist opinion, we’ll refer you to a consultant from our network. The consultant’s admin team will contact you to arrange an initial appointment and confirm what your insurer needs from them – most insurers require a consultant-led referral for an MRI or ultrasound rather than accepting one directly from a physiotherapist. In most cases, a consultant will need to assess you in person before requesting imaging. Once scanned, results are typically available within a few days, and your consultant will share them with us so your rehabilitation can continue without delay.
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