Private healthcare boom fuelled by NHS waiting lists

The value of the UK’s private healthcare market rose to a record £12.4bn last year as long NHS waiting lists fuelled demand from individuals and the health service paid for nearly £3.5bn of procedures to help ease the care backlog.

As private medical insurance boomed, total revenues generated in the independent healthcare sector hit an all-time high in real terms pegged to 2003 prices, research revealed.

The total value of work done in hospitals, clinics and by privately practising doctors, including cataract removals, knee surgery and MRI scans, was £1bn higher than in 2022, according to the latest report by the health data provider LaingBuisson.

More patients went private last year as the NHS waiting list peaked at 7.77 million in September, up sharply from 4.57 million at the end of 2019. Increasing numbers took out private medical insurance to fund their treatment, while there has been a decline in those paying out of their own pockets, LaingBuisson said.

Tim Read, the co-author of the report, said: “Increasingly we are seeing people willing to find alternatives rather than waiting to be seen on the NHS. Independent hospitals are seeing a continued boom in people claiming against health insurance entitlements, whilst independent clinics offering lower cost treatments – whether it’s cataract surgery or a diagnostic scan – are becoming an increasingly common sight on high streets across England, not just in more affluent areas traditionally associated with private healthcare.”

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Source: The Guardian, 25 October 2024