For decades, the NHS has occupied a special and largely unique place in the UK’s national psyche – the closest thing the English have to a religion as the former Chancellor Nigel Lawson famously put it.
In recent years however, a media narrative has steadily developed around a growing number of people opting to pay privately for their healthcare or take out private medical insurance, so frustrated have they been by barriers to access within the NHS.
In this blog we explore how attitudes to private and public healthcare have shifted and what this tells us about the future of healthcare and the NHS in the UK.
The changing landscape in public and private healthcare
The long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK’s healthcare ecosystem have been profound and far-reaching. COVID-19 exposed and exacerbated existing frailties within the NHS, disrupting key areas of service delivery in secondary care and driving waiting lists up to record levels peaking at 7.7m.
It is no coincidence that this has coincided with an unprecedented decline in satisfaction levels from patients. The latest British Social Attitudes survey found that satisfaction with the NHS reached the lowest level on record in 2023 at 24%, down from 54% in 2020. Dissatisfaction, meanwhile, is at a record high across every service, demographic and socio-economic group.
Against this backdrop of a creaking public health service it is unsurprising that a growing number of patients have been willing to explore the option of private healthcare.
Since 2019, privately funded elective inpatient activity in England grew by 10.2% according to The Health Foundation, while GlobalData surveying found that penetration rates for private health insurance increased by nine percentage points from 2021-2024.
Research from the Independent Healthcare Providers Network in September found that 67% of UK adults say they would consider using private healthcare, while 34% say they would pay for treatment in the next 12 months if needed. A survey last year found that health and dental insurance through their employers was a key concern for the UK workforce.
Among younger demographics, the numbers are even more encouraging for the sector. 44% of 25-34 year-olds expect to use private healthcare over the coming year and those in the 18-34 age bracket are generally more positive about the private sector, more willing to consider using it and more likely to have used it previously.
The future of healthcare delivery
The question that remains unanswered is whether the UK is going through a generational tipping point that will see private healthcare increasingly become the go-to choice for healthcare consumers. For now, the answer looks more nuanced than that.
The principal drivers behind these attitudinal shifts towards the public and private sectors flow from the structural challenges facing the NHS with the top reason given for those who have opted for private treatment being an inability to get an NHS appointment quickly enough.
But the public broadly remains highly supportive of the core principles and purpose of the NHS. Regular polling shows that the vast majority of people regard underfunding as the biggest underlying factor behind poor NHS performance and want to see increased investment, funded by higher taxes if needed.
In truth, while there is an increased willingness to explore private healthcare as an option, we’re yet to see a major structural shift towards privately funded healthcare, which remains only 8.3% of all inpatient elective care activity.
But the landscape suggests that the right conditions are present for private healthcare to win market share and attract new customers.
The Health Secretary Wes Streeting has identified three core pillars of reform for the NHS, moving treatment “from hospital to community”, “analogue to digital” and “sickness to prevention”. But it will take time before these reforms begin to bear fruit.
In the meantime, the pressures on NHS capacity pushing those who can afford it towards the private sector will continue. The challenge, and opportunity, for the sector in the meantime is to reach those patients who may be considering exploring private healthcare with a clear and compelling value proposition.
Our healthcare communications team is ready to help you make the most of the changing healthcare landscape and ensure your communications cut through to the audiences that matter to you. Get in touch with healthcare experts today.