Private Healthcare Use Doubles as NHS Waiting Times Drive Patients Away

New research commissioned by Healthwatch England has revealed a significant and accelerating shift in how people in England are accessing healthcare, with the proportion of adults turning to private services having nearly doubled in just one year.

The consumer polling organisation Savanta surveyed 2,593 adults aged 18 and over to assess their use of NHS and private healthcare and to gauge confidence levels in NHS services. The findings paint a concerning picture of a health system under sustained pressure, with growing numbers of patients seeking alternatives outside the public sector.

Nearly one in seven people — 16 per cent — reported using private services such as non-urgent treatment and diagnostic tests in the past year. This represents a near-doubling of the nine per cent recorded in 2023, marking one of the most striking year-on-year shifts in healthcare consumption seen in recent years.

The research also reveals a meaningful shift in the reasons people are opting for private care. Long waiting times have emerged as the leading motivation, cited by nearly four in ten respondents (39 per cent) as their main reason for going private. This is a notable change from 2023, when perceived better quality of care — at 37 per cent — was the most commonly cited driver.

Other reasons given by respondents included better quality of care (31 per cent), convenience (30 per cent), and ineligibility for the procedure on the NHS (20 per cent). Together, these findings suggest that for a growing share of the population, private healthcare is less a lifestyle choice and more a perceived necessity driven by system-level constraints.

The data underscores that access to private care remains far from universal. Income is a powerful determinant: only ten per cent of those earning under £20,000 used private healthcare in the past year, compared with 35 per cent of those earning £80,000 or more. This three-and-a-half-fold difference points to a widening two-tier healthcare divide, with those on lower incomes effectively locked into an NHS whose services they are less able to access in a timely manner.

The shift towards private care comes against a backdrop of persistently low public confidence in NHS services. Just 32 per cent of respondents said they were confident in receiving timely hospital outpatient treatment — a modest improvement on the 28 per cent recorded in 2023, but still deeply underwhelming.

Confidence is particularly low when it comes to non-urgent operations, where just 22 per cent of people expressed confidence in timely access. Confidence in scans and diagnostics stood at 28 per cent, while mental health care (22 per cent) and GP appointments (31 per cent) also attracted low scores.

National data corroborates the public’s concerns. Although the elective waiting list has fallen slightly over the past year, an estimated 6.13 million people remained waiting for planned care at the end of January 2026. Of those, 2.7 million had been waiting longer than the NHS target of 18 weeks — a figure that reinforces why public confidence in timely treatment remains so fragile.

Chris McCann, Acting Chief Executive, Healthwatch England said: “The NHS 10-Year Plan aims to tackle long waits for elective care. However, this work needs to move faster if we want to boost patient confidence, stop the move towards two-tier healthcare, and restore the NHS as a truly universal service for all.

“The Government must keep its pledge to make sure most people are seen and treated within 18 weeks of referral, including meeting the interim target of 65 per cent of people by the end of this month.

“To build people’s confidence, the Government should introduce the promised minimum patient experience standards for elective care. Everyone waiting for hospital care, no matter where they live or which hospital they were referred to, should get the same level of service and communication.”

Healthwatch England is calling on the Government to introduce promised minimum patient experience standards for elective care — standards that would apply regardless of where a patient lives or to which hospital they have been referred. Such standards would include timely confirmation that referrals have been received and accepted, rather than lost in administrative processes, as well as information to help patients manage their symptoms whilst they await treatment.

The organisation is also pressing for hospitals to provide patients with regular updates confirming their continued place on the waiting list, and to give adequate notice of any planned cancellations. Critically, Healthwatch England is urging that these standards be tracked and progress shared publicly, to rebuild confidence in the NHS’s ability to reduce backlogs.