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Private healthcare now worth £12.4bn as NHS wait lists grow
The Guardian
|October 25, 2024
The value of the UK's private healthcare market rose to a record £12.4bn last year as long NHS waiting lists fuelled demand from individuals, while the public health service paid for nearly £3.5bn of procedures to help ease the care backlog.
As private medical insurance boomed, total revenues generated in the independent healthcare sector hit an all-time high in real terms, research revealed.
The total value of work done in hospitals, clinics and by privately practising doctors was £1bn higher than in 2022, according to the latest report by the health data provider LaingBuisson.
More patients went private last year as the NHS waiting list peaked at 7.77 million that September, up sharply from 4.57 million at the end of 2019. Increasing numbers took out private medical insurance to fund their treatment, while there has been a decline in those paying out of their own pockets, LaingBuisson said.
This story is from the October 25, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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