Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The rise of private healthcare could finish off the NHS

A private hospital in 1962 (Getty Images)

The number of Britons turning to private healthcare has risen by a third since the pandemic. The figures from the Private Healthcare Information Network aren’t a surprise: they show that there were more ‘self-pay’ admissions for treatment in 2022 than in any other year the organisation has data for.

If long waiting lists remain, then a two-tier healthcare system will become normalised

In all, 272,000 people paid for their own treatment (rather than having it financed by insurance).

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