For the fourth year in a row, reported admissions at the UK’s private hospitals have risen thanks to insurance-funded patients.
It seems as though little can stop the rise of admissions to private hospitals in the UK. After an increase in the third quarter driven by patients in the 50-to-59 age group, the full-year figures from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) for 2025 show an increase of 1%.
This is the fourth successive year in which a record level has been set.
The total was mainly driven by the highest ever number of insurance-funded patients (670,000). There was a smaller increase in those using self-pay, taking the total to 283,000.
“The continued growth in admissions for admitted care shows the importance of the private sector in maintaining and improving health in the UK,” said Richard Wells, PHIN’s director of technology and insights.
“Both private medical insurance and self-pay admissions (where people use their savings or loans to pay for their procedure) were at very high levels. Our data shows, though, that there are distinct differences between the types of procedures people have, depending on how they are being funded.
Cataract surgery is the most popular procedure overall, but it is only the third most popular for admissions funded by private medical insurance. Chemotherapy is the most popular, with two diagnostic procedures (upper GI endoscopy and colonoscopy) making up the top four.
For self-pay, however, what the PHIN calls “the traditional big three” of private healthcare remained cataract surgery, hip replacement and knee replacement
The report also noted that, as well as more patients, there were more active consultants in the private sector than ever last year, reaching nearly 13,400. This is a 2.9% increase on 2024.
