People turn towards private healthcare for a variety of reasons. Some want the comfort and privacy of their own room, a choice of menus and en-suite facilities. Others choose to go private in order to avoid the waiting times for NHS surgery. Over the next five years, the government will pay for a further million to have private operations in order to reduce pressure on the health service. Yet more will want access to treatments not available on the NHS.


The most obvious reason is to get around the queues of the NHS. If you need a hip replacement operation for example, the NHS wait is likely to be several months. You may experience a deteriorating quality of life while you wait for the operation and so, if you can afford it, may choose to go private.

The environment of a private hospital is significantly different to that of an NHS hospital. You will almost certainly receive a private, well appointed room, possibly with en-suite facilities and partners or parents may be able to stay.

Many hospitals also have a la carte menus, wine lists and additional services such as complimentary newspapers, fax and phone use.

Some services are either not available or have only limited availability on the NHS, but are offered by private hospitals. These can include fertility care, particularly for couples who already have children, complementary therapies and some cosmetic procedures.


Emergency facilities vary considerably between individual private hospitals. Very few have intensive care units, though many do have high dependency facilities. Most private hospitals rarely need to use an intensive care unit because they do not perform complicated surgery, but when a patient does need intensive facilities, it is necessary to transfer the patient to a larger NHS unit as quickly as possible.

Companies producing niche or elective treatments may therefore target the Private Healthcare sector to achieve sales - particularly if the NHS will not pay for the treatments.