The number of medical tourists visiting the UK for private healthcare including cancer therapies has soared by a whopping 800 per cent in less than a decade, new data shows.
Figures from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN), a Government-backed body tracking paid-for treatment in the UK, showed non-UK patients accounted for 10,640 hospital admissions last year.
A fifth of these had pricey treatment within a facility run by the NHS — a controversial practice which critics say drains much-needed resources away from health service.
It comes despite the latest NHS data showing almost 6.4million patients are stuck on waiting lists in for elective care in England alone.
Despite booming business on private wards, NHS medics at 'breaking point' are reportedly cutting back their working hours to 'protect their wellbeing'.
The vast majority of foreign private patients, over 15,000, recorded since 2016 were from wealthy nations on the Arabian Peninsula such as Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. This was followed by Ireland (1,565) and Nigeria (565).
The total 10,000 plus figure for 2023 is a 32 per cent increase from last year, but a colossal 798 per cent increase from the 1,185 such patients recorded in 2016.
Growth specifically within the NHS's so-called Private Patient Units (PPUs) was even greater in 2023 with a 52 per cent increase year on year.
PPUs are a controversial NHS practice, with an estimated one in 100 beds in the health service set-aside for private patients.
Foreign nationals seeking private care in the UK were most likely to undergo chemotherapy for cancer, or an endoscopy, where a small flexible camera is inserted into the digestive system to help diagnose a range of ailments.
Critics have said PPUs exacerbate health inequalities in the UK and makes backlogs faced by NHS patients even worse.
Many of the medics offering such private treatments also work in the NHS, meaning PPU work directly cuts the number of hours they can dedicate to public patients.
And some trusts also lean into their public services in advertising their private business, boasting how if things go wrong during a procedure, taxpayer-funded specialist and emergency care is available directly, unlike some private hospitals.
NHS trusts that have launched PPUs have defended the schemes as allowing them to reinvest the profits made from private treatment into public services.
But NHS trusts don't actually publish data on profits just earnings, of which the latest publicly available data indicates they earned just shy of £600million in one year.
However, this varies. Research by the Centre for Health and Public Interest shows at least one trust's PPU has lost £18million since opening.
And not all patients end up paying, NHS trusts have written off almost £2million in unpaid bills for those treated in its PPU in some years.
Critics also argue that many of the profits made from PPU seem to be reinvested into expanding trust's private care business rather than its public operations.
Another common defence of PPUs is that they free up capacity within the NHS by allowing patients with the means to access an alternative care system, in theory cutting waiting lists.
But critics argue such a defence falls apart when it comes to PPUs importing tens of thousands of patients from abroad who don't rely on the NHS.
It comes as new NHS data shows the waiting list for routine treatments in the health service in England rose for the third month in a row.
An estimated 7.62million treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of June, relating to 6.39million patients.
This a rise from the 7.60million treatments and 6.37million patients recorded at the end of May.
The figures are still down from a record peak of 7.77million treatments and 6.50million patients recorded in September 2023 but the total has been creeping up since April.
In February 2020, the last full month before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the list stood at 4.57 million.
Since February 2024, treatments by community services are no longer included in the data, meaning the overall number of incidences of people waiting for treatment in England is likely to be higher than the latest figures.
Cancer treatment figures, of which chemotherapy like the type undertaken by foreign nationals in private care in the UK also continue to fail meet targets.
The proportion of patients waiting no longer than 62 days in June from an urgent suspected cancer referral or consultant upgrade to their first definitive treatment for cancer was 67.4 per cent up from 65.8 per cent in May. The target is 85 per cent.
Meanwhile, the UK's medical regulator has warned doctors are at 'breaking point' and many having to cut back working hours to 'protect their wellbeing'.
The General Medical Council (GMC) said doctors are 'taking matters into their own hands' by reducing hours and declining additional work.
This could scupper Labour's plan to ramp up evening and weekend work to try to reduce the backlog of care in the NHS.
The GMC warned 'workloads are high and professional satisfaction is low'.
A survey by the regulator found 41 per cent of medics had refused to take on additional work – up from 23 per cent in 2021.
Of those that refused to take on additional hours almost one in five did so due to 'pressure on workload and capacity'. This is up from 8 per cent of medics who cited this reason in 2021.
The GMC report read: For individual doctors, this is often the only responsible way they can deliver safe care, but such steps further reduce the capacity of the health service.'
In the foreword to the report, GMC chief executive and registrar Charlie Massey and GMC chairwoman Professor Dame Carrie MacEwen wrote: 'UK health services are in a critical state and those who work within them are at breaking point.'
'These data show that more doctors are now taking matters into their own hands, not just to protect their own health and wellbeing, but that of their patients as well.
'For many, this will often be the only responsible course to deliver safe care. But this action comes with risks.
'We must be clear that doctors protecting their wellbeing is essential, but they shouldn’t feel their only option is to reduce their working hours.
'This presents challenges in capacity planning, adding further pressure to services that are already stretched.
An NHS England spokesperson said: 'We have been working to improve the training and working lives of doctors and we know there is more work needed, particularly recognising the risk of burnout.
'As part of the NHS long term workforce plan, we are taking action to further improve working conditions, including increasing choice and flexibility in training and reducing duplicative inductions so clinicians can spend less time on admin and more time treating patients.
'We are also strengthening occupational health services and reviewing our mental health and treatment offer for staff, to ensure everyone working in the NHS has the right support.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'The NHS is broken and the Secretary of State has been clear that he wants to work with doctors to get it back on its feet so it works for patients and staff.
'NHS England is working to address training bottlenecks so the health service has enough staff for the future and we will recruit over 1,000 newly-qualified GPs by the end of the year to reduce the burden on general practice.'
PHIN's chief executive Dr Ian Gargan on the release of its data, said: 'We work with the UK’s 650+ private hospitals, including NHS PPUs, and the data they submit to us appears to show that patients – especially those from the Middle East – increasingly value the private healthcare sector in the UK.
'More and more are coming each year, leading to a record-breaking number in 2023.'
'As well as ensuring these patients receive the care they need, the growing number of international patients allows private providers to maximise capacity, and brings a boost to the UK economy.'
