Home Business Healthcare UK Private Healthcare Market R...

UK Private Healthcare Market Reaches £12.4 Billion Amid NHS Backlog

Healthcare

Revenues, Increased, Operators, Popularity

Business Honor
25 October, 2024

UK private healthcare market reaches £12.4 billion as NHS backlogs drive increased demand

The UK's private healthcare market hit a record level of £12.4 billion last year, partly driven by steep NHS waiting lists, which soared to a fresh record of 7.77 million in September. The increase illustrates a continuation of reliance on private medical services as the NHS spends around £3.5 billion on private procedures to eliminate the backlog.

According to the health data provider LaingBuisson, the independent healthcare sector raked in revenues at an all-time high in real terms this year - £1 billion more than in 2022. Also, with private medical insurance becoming more fashionable nowadays, the number of patients using private care has increased greatly, but those who are paying themselves have decreased.

NHS spending on private providers reached £2.1 billion last year - almost a third of the income of private hospitals. In all, private hospitals and clinics undertook about 1.3 million procedures in 2023, almost 445,000 of which were funded by the NHS. Cataract surgery is still the most common procedure undertaken, which costs around £2,000 for private payers.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting emphasized the need to utilize the private sector services to expedite NHS processes, stating that this could be a matter of life and death for some patients. Private hospital operators major Spire Healthcare and Circle Health Group saw revenues increase sharply. The biggest accounted for three quarters of the market.

Co-author of the report, Tim Read, said that private healthcare is gaining popularity, especially in former deprived areas, and David Hare, Independent Healthcare Providers Network, observed that "going private" is fast becoming regarded as the "new normal" for individuals in a race for timely medical care.