Spire Healthcare’s admissions funded by private medical insurance (PMI) increased by 3.1% during 2025 to £684.3m.
This helped the operator of almost 100 hospitals, clinics and consultancy rooms to increase its private patient revenues by 1.7% to £1bn compared to 2024’s figures, boosted by a 2.8% improvement in the second half of the year.
While overall revenue improved by 4.5% to around £1.5bn, Spire’s profit after tax fell by around a third to £17.2m from £26m in 2024.
This was the result of rising costs, which included a one-off restructuring of the business. NHS funding also appears to be sliding in 2026.
Self-pay down despite H2 rebound
Private payors accounted for 69.8% of hospital revenue, slightly down from 71.6% recorded a year earlier.
This was partly due to self-pay revenues contracting by 1.1% to £337.1m during the year. Yet growth returned in the second half of the year at 0.5% after shrinking by 2.6% in the six months to July.
NHS revenue jumped 11.4%. The first half saw strong growth of 16.2%, but budgetary restrictions from integrated care boards saw this ease to 6.8% in the second half.
Momentum has continued into the first quarter of this year with 70% of revenue from Spire’s hospitals funded by private payors.
The remainder was funded by the NHS. However, continuing budgetary restrictions mean these revenues are expected to have declined by 25% in the first quarter, compared to the same period a year earlier.
Justin Ash, chief executive of Spire Healthcare, said: “Today’s results demonstrate a resilient performance against a backdrop of increased costs and changes in the NHS commissioning environment towards the end of the year.
“We delivered growth across our hospital and primary care businesses, reflected in the improving private payor trends in the second half of the year, as our strategic initiatives continued to drive performance.
“Through disciplined investments to grow our private patient business and further efficiency initiatives, we will continue to evolve into a more integrated, nimble and forward-looking organisation well-positioned to meet the UK’s growing healthcare needs.
“We remain confident in the market opportunities ahead and our medium-term outlook.”
