Almost two million people may have decided to pay for private healthcare – including so-called waiting list “fast passes” – during the pandemic rather than wait for NHS services, a think tank has said. The IPPR said a survey showed 31% of British adults found it difficult to access NHS services during the crisis – the equivalent of 16 million people.
Of these, 12% said they used some sort of private healthcare instead – an estimated two million adults, according to the poll of 3,466 British adults. And those who cannot afford to pay for private healthcare are at risk of being left to “put up or shut up”, the IPPR said.
The think tank said the UK risks embedding a two-tier health system whereby those who can afford to will supplement their access to NHS care with paid-for products, including private insurance, health tourism, direct payments and “waiting list fast passes”. The IPPR’s latest report states that the pandemic has “rapidly accelerated an existing trend of decline in access and outcomes” and warns that this is creating the conditions for an “opt-out by those who have the means – embedding a two-tier system”.
