Around one in eight adults surveyed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have paid for private medical care because waits for NHS treatment were too long.
While official data shows wait times have exceeded 7.2 million, the ONS survey found one in five (20%) adults reported they were waiting for a hospital appointment, test, or to start receiving medical treatment through the NHS.
Of those waiting for an appointment, 70% reported that they had been waiting for up to six months, around 8% reported they had been waiting between seven and 11 months and 18% reported they had been waiting for a year or longer.
But when asked whether they had paid for private medical care in the past year because they felt the wait for NHS treatment was too long, around one in eight (13%) adults reported they had paid for private medical care, with 5% using private insurance and 7% paying for the treatment themselves.
When asked about their experiences with accessing a GP, of those who had made an appointment in the past month over half (52%) reported it being difficult or very difficult, while only around a third (35%) reported it being easy or very easy to make an appointment.
Respondents who needed to make a GP appointment in the past month were also asked if they had experienced any barriers.
The most common barriers experienced were being offered only a telephone consultation when they wanted a face-to-face appointment (41%), waiting too long for a GP appointment (36%), difficulty contacting the GP practice (29%) and not being able to get a GP appointment (22%).
Brett Hill, head of health and protection at Broadstone, said: “Waiting a long time for care for an illness or injury can drive a significant deterioration in mental health alongside the physical pain it causes and, as such, it is unsurprising to see the detriment it is having on people’s careers.”
