What do people use private healthcare for?

When it comes to type of services, it is clear that people use private healthcare across the full range of healthcare needs. The most common services identified were consultations – with doctors or with other healthcare professionals – but a third of people have used private healthcare for a diagnostic test, 30% for a GP appointment, and a quarter for an operation. There are also 6% of people who access private healthcare for ongoing treatment for a serious problem such as cancer.

One particular area of interest – given the pressures faced by NHS primary care providers – is access to private GP services. Some 28% of people who have accessed private healthcare have done so in order to access a private GP. There is, however, a dramatic variation based on age in this context – with 13% of those aged 65 who have used private healthcare using it to access private GP services, compared to 50% of 18-24 years olds who have gone private.

This suggests that there is a clear shift over time in the types of services that people use private healthcare for – GP services and consultations for younger people, and increased access for operations and other procedures as people get older.

In either case, it continues to be that the majority of people attempt to access care on the NHS before turning to private healthcare. Overall, 57% of people who have used private healthcare did so most recently only after trying to get that care from the NHS first.