Almost one in five NHS operations now carried out in private hospitals

Nearly one in five NHS operations are now being carried out in private hospitals or clinics, new analysis reveals.

Data from the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN) revealed that private facilities delivered the equivalent of 2,859 NHS procedures every working day in April.

The figure is an increase of over 60% compared to the same month in 2019, and a record high.

Overall, the independent sector is delivering 10% of all NHS planned care, up from 8% before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The IHPN also said that the number of referrals it had received also reached a new high, with private providers receiving 7,162 referrals each working day in April.

David Hare, chief executive of the IHPN, said that this latest data “shows the independent sector’s increasingly pivotal role in delivering frontline NHS care”.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 2 July 2025