Almost half (45%) of UK adults would pay for private healthcare if a relative was stuck on a waiting list for surgery although more than a third (37%) said they would not.
Younger adults were more likely to disagree with the principle of private healthcare than older people, while those in England were more likely to pay than residents of Scotland or Wales.
Notably, those in Scotland and Wales were more likely to not pay than to go private, with exactly half (50%) of Welsh adults surveyed saying they would not pay for private care.
The survey commissioned by MyTribe found 14% of respondents definitely would turn to private healthcare if a relative was stuck waiting for surgery with a further 31% saying they probably would.
In contrast, 11% of the 2,317 adults polled by YouGov ruled it out completely, said they definitely would not go private, with another 26% saying they probably would not.
The remaining 18% did not know.
With the NHS a key determinant in the general election, the poll followed the first political debate on 4 June when prime minister Rishi Sunak and opposition leader Keir Starmer were asked a direct question about whether they would use private healthcare if a relative was stuck on an NHS waiting list.
They both answered emphatically, with Sunak quickly replying “Yes” and Starmer following him with “No”.
Key findings
In the MyTribe YouGov poll, those in England (46%) were more likely to use private healthcare than those in Scotland (41%) and Wales (34%).
Those who said they probably or definitely would not use private healthcare were asked why not, choosing two reasons from a list of nine.
Not having the money for private healthcare was cited most frequently, with 84% saying affordability was a barrier for them and was the main reason regardless of age, gender, social grade, general election vote in 2019, country or region of the UK.
The second most selected reason was disagreeing with the principle of private care generally, with 22% saying that was the case.
Young adults (18-49) were more likely to disagree with the principle of private healthcare, with 25% objecting to it, compared to 19% of those over 50.
And men (29%) were nearly twice as likely to disagree with the principle of private healthcare than women (15%).
Just 7% of people said they felt care levels were better in the NHS, although that was still the third most selected reason, while an additional 6% said they would not know how to access private healthcare.