Growing numbers of patients are paying for life-saving surgery because of huge NHS waiting lists.
Private providers say demand for ‘self-funded’ operations has soared since the start of the pandemic.
Alarmingly, some patients feel they have to pay for heart operations that can cost as much as £20,000. A record 5.3million people are awaiting NHS treatment, some for as long as two years.
Growing numbers of patients are paying for life-saving surgery because of huge NHS waiting lists (stock image)
The revelations came as:
Ministers said young people could be offered free coffees and cinema tickets for having a Covid jab; Plans for a travel ‘amber watch list’ were hanging in the balance amid fears it could ruin family holidays; Jacob Rees-Mogg joined a Tory revolt against vaccine passports; Figures showed the average age of Covid patients in intensive care had plunged by ten years thanks to jabs; New virus cases dropped to 24,470 and weekly infections fell by 30 per cent; Lorry drivers were offered bonuses of £3,000 in a bid to end bin collection delays caused by the ‘pingdemic’.Health officials are increasingly alarmed by the scale of the NHS backlog caused by the pandemic. It is affecting everything from hip and knee replacements to cancer and heart procedures.
Charities say increasing numbers of patients who have been waiting for months are now choosing to go private ‘as a last resort’, with some considering taking out loans.
Britain’s largest private hospital group, HCA, said there had been an increase in ‘higher acuity care’ since the start of the pandemic – including a 20 per cent increase in ‘self-funded cardiothoracic inpatient procedures’.
Private providers say demand for ‘self-funded’ operations has soared since the start of the pandemic (stock image)
This includes operations on the heart and chest such as heart bypass operations, which can cost £17,500, having a valve replaced (£20,000) or inserting a stent.
The group also reported a 30 per cent increase in self-funded neuroscience procedures, such as those on the spinal cord and brain.
Spire Healthcare, the UK’s second largest private provider, reported that the number of inquiries from self-pay patients was up by 29 per cent from March 2020 to March this year.
Areas seeing the greatest demand included urology, which covers treatment of the prostate, bladder and kidneys, and gastroenterology – the stomach and digestive system.