Record private health admissions in 2023 as NHS crumbles
News
Jun 4th, 2024
The latest PHIN data on private healthcare admissions was published today and revealed that there were 898,000 admissions to private hospitals in the UK in 2023. This is more than any previous year and 7% higher than 2022.
Admissions funded by private medical insurance were at record levels (612,000), going above pre-pandemic figures for the first time. The largest peak came in the final three months of 2023 when 161,000 private hospital admissions were funded this way. Insured admissions were 7% higher in 2023 than in 2019 and 11% higher than 2022.
Self-pay admissions – people paying for their own treatment rather than using insurance – were also at their highest ever level in 2023, peaking in the first three months of the year (73,000 admissions) before reducing slightly but staying well above (39%) pre-pandemic levels.
Brett Hill, Head of Health and Protection at leading independent consultancy Broadstone, commented: “The crisis in the UK’s public health system drove surging private healthcare admissions in 2023 in yet another indicator of the parlous state of our NHS.
“Self-funded admissions hit a record year despite the cost-of-living pressures on households, demonstrating the value patients are placing on their health and wellbeing in difficult economic times.
“Through the year, employers continued to expand coverage of workplace health insurance solutions amongst employees to stem record economic inactivity due to chronic illness, and these figures reveal the extent to which employees are increasingly making use of their healthcare benefits to access care that would previously have been provided by the NHS. More and more businesses recognise the need to invest in healthcare services as they can no longer rely on the NHS to support the health of their employees adequately.
“Admissions paid for with Private Medical Insurance (predominantly employer-led schemes) account for nearly seven in 10 of all private treatments, as health insurance plans ck tiniest to fuel wider growth in the private healthcare market.
“Demand from businesses for private healthcare services is only like to grow further, regardless of the outcome of the upcoming election, as we see little hope of meaningful improvements to NHS waiting lists in the near future. Healthcare will be a key election battleground and it is to be hoped that any incoming government will recognise the significant role the private sector can play in maintaining the health of the UK workforce and reducing pressures in the NHS.”
