The latest survey from the Independent Healthcare Providers Network has revealed a noticeable rise in confidence in self-pay activity.
Independent healthcare providers are anticipating strong growth in their private pay markets in the coming year, driven particularly by a renewed confidence in self-pay activity, according to a new survey conducted by the sector’s industry body.
The Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN) has looked at how senior leaders from more than 50 independent providers feel about the key issues relating to their business. It found that confidence is rapidly growing in the domestic self-pay market. Against a backdrop of the continuing challenges around accessing NHS care, 78% of respondents reported feeling positive or very positive about this payor group, compared with 62% last year.
Independent healthcare leaders also feel upbeat about insured activity, with almost two-thirds of providers (63%) “positive” or “very positive” about this market.
“While there’s no doubt that independent providers – along with others in the health system and wider business community – face real challenges in light of the current economic and political climate, this year’s IHPN Industry Barometer shows overall a continued sense of optimism within the sector, particularly in the private market where the growing “normalisation” around paying for treatment is becoming ever more apparent,” said IHPN chief executive David Hare.
Paying for treatment
The IHPN claims that this positivity around the private market can be seen in light of the growing normalisation of paying for treatment.
The network’s Going Private 2025 report found that while previously those under 30 have been most likely to consider using private healthcare, this openness to paying for treatment is now spreading to older groups. In it, more than seven in ten people said that they would consider accessing care privately.
The current survey also shows a welcome improvement in the extent to which independent providers feel they are part of their local NHS Integrated Care Systems – rising to 65% this year, up from 51% last year.
In light of the growing prominence of AI in healthcare, independent sector leaders have also identified advances in artificial intelligence and other digital tools as the biggest opportunity around improving quality and patient safety – the first time this has featured in the survey. And with an increase in independent healthcare providers looking to upskill and adapt their existing workforce, the survey also shows clear aspirations from the sector to increase clinical training, with 46% of independent healthcare leaders expecting this to increase in the next five years.
“The survey also highlights the clear desire amongst independent providers to meet the needs of growing numbers of both NHS and private patients, including through taking proactive steps to improve the quality and safety of their care through the use of AI and other digital tools, as well as growing their own workforce – putting them in good stead in the years ahead,” said Hare.
