One in eight Britons have paid for private health services in the last year, amid frustration with delays in getting NHS treatment and a growing willingness to buy care using salary or savings.
New research by YouGov found that another 27% of people had considered going private, for themselves or a loved one, but decided against it, often because they couldn’t afford it.
Added to the 13% who did pay for care for themselves or someone they live with, that means that two in five people have either resorted to using medical care at private clinics and hospitals or thought about doing so.
NHS campaigners said they feared that the findings show that it is becoming a “two-tier” health service and blamed underfunding and staff shortages for leaving it unable to provide timely care.
“Worsening NHS services related directly to a lack of planning, workforce shortages and underinvestment inevitably force some patients to seek care faster from the private sector,” said Dr John Puntis, a retired consultant paediatrician who is the co-chair of the campaign group Keep Our NHS Public.
“This option is available to those who can afford to pay, but excludes the vast majority of the population as over a third of people in the UK have less than £1,000 in cash to cover unexpected expenses, thereby increasing health inequalities,” he added.
YouGov’s survey of a representative sample of 1,164 Britons found that:
33% of those who had used private healthcare instead of the NHS had done so for the first time.
53% went private “so I could be seen more quickly”.
most (48%) paid for non-urgent care, such as a diagnostic test or operation.
Among the 13% who had paid for private care, 29% had used disposable income but others had used a work-based private health scheme (25%), savings (24%), private medical insurance (14%) or money they had borrowed from friends of family (6%).
The body that represents private health firms said that YouGov’s findings may show that, with NHS delays so common, use of services run by such providers is becoming normalised.
“People feel the independent sector can help them, and we could be seeing the beginning of a significant behavioural shift with people feeling it’s perfectly normal and sensible to use private healthcare when they need it, in addition to, or separate from, their NHS care”, said David Hare, the chief executive of the Independent Healthcare Provider Network.
The “relatively modest” average £500 spend “demonstrates that private healthcare is an option for smaller procedures, consultations, scans or diagnostics, so it’s not just about significant surgical operations – and may be more affordable than people assume”, Hare added.
The findings come as the “elective recovery taskforce” that Rishi Sunak set up to tackle the 7.2m-strong backlog of people in England awaiting hospital care is reportedly finalising plans to give patients greater choice in where they have their care, paid for by the NHS. The move is likely to lead to the private sector treating more NHS-funded patients.
In a hint of its recommendations, the prime minister said recently that: “We should be using the independent sector to provide choice, to provide competition, drive up quality. It’s worked in the past and we are going to do more of that going forward.”
Tom Powell, YouGov’s research director, said: “Looking at the 13% who used private healthcare in the last year for either themselves or another member of their household, 33% of this group said it was the first time they used private healthcare rather than using the NHS. A further 48% said it wasn’t the first time they used private but typically they would use the NHS.
“This means that around eight in 10 of those who used private healthcare last year were people who previously would have always or typically used the NHS.”
Among those who paid, the average spend was £500. However, 23% had spent between £1,001 and £5,000 while another 4% had spent between £5,001 and £10,000.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The NHS is working hard to cut waiting lists and we are making progress on our elective recovery plan, despite winter pressures on the NHS and industrial action.
“The longest waits for treatment have fallen for the third month in a row and there were a record 2.1m diagnostic tests carried out in January thanks to our 100 community diagnostic centres, which have delivered over 3.4m tests, checks and scans in total.”
The NHS is spending at least £61m a year on private ambulance services to attend emergencies such as car crashes and heart attacks in England because it cannot answer all 999 calls itself, new research by the union Unison found.
The South Central ambulance service is spending the most – £19m a year – freedom of information requests show. But the North West ambulance service is spending £15m and the East Midlands ambulance service £9.5m, Unison found.
