Insured private medical admissions have hit a post-pandemic high, according to data from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) .
PHIN’s data for July to September 2022 showed 134,000 admissions for insured patients, the highest quarterly level since before the Covid pandemic hit in March 2020.
In 2019 the average quarterly figure for insured patients was around 145,000, with the latest figures 7.5% below this. However Q3 2022 was just 5.6% below Q3 2019 which saw 142,000 insured patients treated.
PHIN was positive about the immediate future for the insured sector, adding: “The month-on-month increase during the quarter suggests this pattern will continue.”
Notably, the total number of insured procedures at independent sites in Q3 2019 and Q3 2022 was almost equal at 126,000 admissions. The overall reduction is due to NHS providers performing fewer private procedures in 2022.
The data also showed insured admissions remained down in many of the nations and regions compared to Q3 2019. The South West (-17%) and North East (-16%) maintained the largest differences over the previous levels.
Reflecting the pattern of increasing insured admissions overall, there were areas of growth, the largest of which were Wales (8%) and Northern Ireland (4%).
London and the South East were the regions with the highest number of procedures, but both were down on the levels of insured cases in Q3 2019.
Scotland showed a small increase in insured admissions after the 10% reduction in Q2 2022 compared to Q2 2019.
Self-pay slide continues
Meanwhile, the data revealed there was a reduction in self-pay procedures for the third quarter in a row to 66,000, although the total remained well above the pre-pandemic average of 50,000.
Self-pay admissions were above Q3 2019 figures in all nations and regions with Wales (111%) and Scotland (75%) having the largest increases, as they did in Q2 2022.
London (15%) and the South East (20%) had the lowest percentage increases but the highest total numbers of cases.
Northern Ireland had the next lowest percentage increase and the lowest overall total of self-pay admissions.
Cataract surgery continued as the most commonly conducted procedure, but it was only the fourth highest (16%) in terms of change from Q3 2019, with hip replacements (73%) and knee replacements (58%) seeing the largest increases.