Record rise in people using private healthcare amid NHS frustration

Data prompts speculation NHS inability to cut waiting lists could make private healthcare new normal'

Record numbers of people are paying for private healthcare, spending up to 3,200 on having a cataract removed and 15,075 on a new hip, amid growing frustration at NHS waiting lists.

Across the UK last year 272,000 people used their own funds to cover the cost of having an operation or diagnostic procedure at a private hospital. That was up from 262,000 the year before and a sharp rise on the 199,000 who did so in 2019, the year before the Covid pandemic struck.