The British NHS was once idolized. Now its worst crisis is fueling a boom in private healthcare.

Hannah Ziadi, CNN

Tens of thousands of nurses and nearly 12,000 emergency workers went on strike on Monday over wages and working conditions in what was the biggest strike in the 75-year history of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).

The escalation of strikes comes after years of falling wages, tight budgets and staff shortages that have left the NHS in crisis and treatment waiting times hit an all-time high. At the same time, an aging population needs his services more than ever.

This unfortunate mix is ​​fueling a boom in demand for private healthcare from a much broader segment of the UK population than ever before – a fundamental shift for a country with one of the world’s most famous universal health systems.

“Our providers are telling us that people are moving into private practice, many for the first time, and a key driver of this is the issue of access to NHS care,” said David Furness, director of policy at the Independent Health Providers Network, an industry organization for private medical companies.

At the end of November, a record 7.2 million patients in England were waiting for emergency medical care on the NHS, known as “elective” care. This includes diagnostic tests and scans, procedures such as hip and knee replacements, as well as cardiac surgery, cancer treatment, and neurosurgery.

According to data from the National Health Service of England, more than half of the patients on the list waited up to 18 weeks, and about 400,000 patients waited more than a year.

To avoid being placed on a waiting list, more and more people are paying for private health care or taking out health insurance.

In the second quarter of 2022, the number of patients paying direct for treatment in private hospitals increased by 34% compared to the same period in 2019, to 67,000, according to the Private Health Information Network, which collects data on private healthcare in the UK.

The figures showed an 184% increase in the number of people paying privately for hip replacements during this period, a 153% increase in self-paying for knee replacements, and a 42% increase in private cataract surgeries.

Private hospital groups thrive

To keep up with the growing demand for their services, private healthcare providers are expanding rapidly.

US group Cleveland Clinic plans to open its third UK center in London later this year, adding to the 184-bed hospital and six-story clinic it opened in the capital in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

HCA Healthcare, another US group that has over 30 healthcare facilities in London and Manchester, will open a £100 million ($120 million) private hospital in Birmingham. – the UK’s second largest city – later this year.

AND Spire Healthcare, one of the largest private hospital groups in the United Kingdom, is opening new clinics, theaters and beds across the country in an effort to keep up with demand.

CEO Justin Ash The private healthcare market in the United Kingdom is estimated to have doubled from pre-pandemic levels to 15 million people.

“Our biggest issue is how we treat the number of patients approaching us,” he told CNN.

In 2023, the group plans to build two new clinics that are faster than hospitals and are designed to provide treatments that do not require an overnight stay, such as in ophthalmology, gynecology and dermatology.

Spire is also promoting primary health care services, citing demand for face-to-face meetings with general practitioners. In December it acquired The Doctors Clinic Group, a chain of 22 private general practice clinics with a strong presence in central London.

Ash said the appetite for private healthcare covers a much wider range of ages and incomes than in the past.

“It’s not the super rich. These are ordinary people who choose privacy, and this is a shift,” he said.

Health insurance on the rise

One such patient is Emma Frith, a website administrator. She decided to take out private health insurance after waiting nine months to see a specialist in the NHS.

“That’s what really sparked it: the idea that I just want to be able to get help when I need it, instead of waiting and waiting and waiting,” she told CNN. “If I was in pain or discomfort, that would be a real problem,” she said of her thoughts at the time.

In November, Frith, 58, and her husband Peter, 55, a photographer, took out health insurance for the first time in their lives in their personal capacity.

Their history is reflected in the data of health insurance companies. In 2022, Bupa added 150,000 new UK health insurance customers, while competitor VitalityHealth saw a 20% increase in customers over the past year to over 900,000.

“We expect the growth we have seen in health insurance to continue in 2023,” said Neville Kupowicz, CEO of Vitality UK.

“This is because people are undoubtedly turning to private health care to ensure they have access to high-quality medical care in the shortest possible time if they get sick,” he added.

The self-employed Friths said that minimizing non-working days in ill health was a major factor in their decision-making, especially given the long wait times for NHS admissions.

According to the Office for National Statistics, a record number of Britons are leaving their jobs due to long-term illness, partly due to long waiting times for NHS treatment.

This issue is of increasing concern to employers. A recent survey conducted by Savanta of more than 1,000 businesses on behalf of the Independent Health Providers Network found that more than half of them are concerned that increased NHS waiting times could lead to long absences or permanent sick leave from work.

And one in five said they are considering offering private health insurance to their employees in the coming year.

A two-tier healthcare system?

The NHS estimates that it will take years for waiting times to decrease, so the demand for private healthcare in the UK will continue to grow.

In the long term, there are questions about whether the National Health Service in its current form is sustainable, offering comprehensive tax-funded free health care to all, especially against the backdrop of an aging population and strained public finances.

The National Health Service is already the largest government spending item in the UK, according to the Office of Financial Responsibility, and ONS data show that health care costs are around 12% of GDP.

Some experts fear that the rejection of universal health care will lead to a two-tier health care system in which people with means pay for private care, allowing them to return to work and return to normal life faster than less well-off people. forced to rely on limited government services.

“The risk lies not so much in sudden privatization as in the emergence of something similar to the English education system, where the best education often depends on ability to pay,” write researchers from the Institute for Public Policy Studies, a think tank. report last year.

“If this were to become the new normal…it would worsen overall health and increase inequality,” they added.

But Ash of Spire Healthcare has a less dystopian vision for the future. “We have clearly moved into a world where we are all NHS patients, but we have episodes of private care,” he said.

It’s “a million miles from the American system,” he added. America doesn’t have universal health care and most people have private health insurance because health care is very expensive.

“There is a huge commitment to the NHS. Don’t underestimate that,” Ash said.

The-CNN-Wire
& © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Company. discovery. All rights reserved.

The British NHS post was once idolized. Now its worst crisis is fueling a boom in private healthcare, first seen on KION546.

Content Source

Dallas Press News – Latest News:
Dallas Local News || Fort Worth Local News | Texas State News || Crime and Safety News || National news || Business News || Health News