What are people’s experiences of going private?

Overall, patient satisfaction with going private remains very high with almost nine in ten people who have accessed private healthcare through both self pay (86%) or through insurance (89%) saying it was value for money.

Looking more broadly, most people (60%) have a generally positive attitude towards private healthcare – a significant increase from 51% in 2023 – and only 7% of people report having a negative attitude. This positivity spans across all voter groups, including 64% of Labour voters and 59% of Green voters.

Among people who have used the sector, however, positivity increases significantly – 81% of all those who have previously accessed private healthcare have a positive attitude towards it.

When asked what they like about private healthcare, people presented a wide range of views, with quick access to treatment and the high quality of care again being the most commonly cited, along with being seen on time, not having appointments cancelled, and staff having more time for patients all featuring in the list.

On the other hand, people with a negative view of private healthcare focus largely on cost and accessibility. The top reason for having a negative view of the sector continues to be that ‘it undermines the NHS’, with more than half (59%) of all people who have a generally negative view of the sector giving this as a key reason. However, this is a significant drop from 2023 when 69% of people cited this reason.