One in 10 (10%) adults in the UK have turned to the private sector or independent healthcare in just the last 12 months, according to a survey commissioned by charity Engage Britain. Of those, almost two-thirds (63%) did so because they faced long delays or could not access treatment on the NHS, writes The Guardian.
The latest NHS England figures show the number of people in England waiting for routine hospital treatments has jumped to a record 6.8 million. Of those who have gone private, almost half (46%) were forced to reduce their spending in other areas, plunder savings they had been keeping for another purpose, or get into financial debt to pay for it.
The survey commissioned by Engage Britain and conducted by Yonder to explore the public’s experiences of and reasons for using private healthcare. It was a nationally representative survey of 2,075 adults. Online fieldwork was undertaken 22 – 24 July 2022. Data weighted to be representative of the UK population by age, gender, region, socioeconomic grade, and ethnicity.
Read more:
- The Guardian: Millions of UK patients forced to go private amid record NHS waiting lists
- Engage Britain: Millions turning to private healthcare are forced into financial worry