What do people think about private healthcare?

Among people who have used private healthcare, there is almost unanimous agreement that doing so represents good value for money. Among both those who accessed private healthcare through private insurance, and those who self-paid, some 88% indicated that their treatment was worth the money.

Overall, most people (58%) have a generally positive attitude towards private healthcare – an increase from 51% in 2023 – and only 8% of people report having a negative attitude. Among people who have used the sector, however, positivity increases significantly – 80% 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. Of note is the presence of ‘appointments are rarely cancelled’ in the top six – the number of respondents identifying this quality has almost doubled since last year’s survey, potentially indicating the cancellation of appointments is becoming a more common occurrence for NHS patients.

Overall, time and timeliness are overwhelmingly viewed as positives about the private healthcare sector, with being seen on time, not having appointments cancelled, being seen at short notice, 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 (55%) of all people who have a generally negative view of the sector giving this as a key reason. However this is a drop from two years ago when 69% of people cited this reason.

Other common reasons given are the views that private healthcare isn’t worth the money, and that it isn’t accessible or ‘for people like me’.