Private medical insurance (PMI) claim volumes rose almost 8% year-on-year from April to June, following growth of almost 7% in the previous three months.
Clearing organisation Healthcode processed 3.2 million invoices for private healthcare providers over the three-month period worth around £1.5bn.
For a consecutive quarter, invoice volumes exceeded one million in each month, bringing the total to 6.3 million for the year to date.
The majority of invoices in Q2 were for outpatient care which was up 8.5% compared with 2025 but invoices for admitted care also represented year-on-year growth of 2.7%.
This was attributed to an increase in day cases of 3.8% year-on-year, although inpatient invoice volumes were down slightly.
Non-hospital specialities leading growth
Most PMI invoices processed by Healthcode – around two million – came from non-hospital sources such as clinics, private practices and practitioners, while hospitals accounted for around one million.
The total invoice volume for outpatient care was 2.9 million in Q2 and exceeded one million in June alone.
This was equivalent to growth of 8.5% compared with 2025.
The total volume for admitted care was 281,000 with day cases accounting for 78%. Day case volumes grew by 3.8% year-on-year while inpatient volumes fell by just over 1%.
Orthopaedics remains top speciality
Of the top ten hospital specialities, six recorded lower invoice volumes compared with Q2 2025.
While this included orthopaedics, this remained the largest hospital speciality with 191,000 invoices.
Pathology/haematology witnessed the largest year-on-year fall of 7.9%. Radiology continued to rebound strongly after a quiet 2025 with 151,000 invoices, representing year-on-year growth of 30.2%.
Oncology and cardiology were the other two hospital specialities to record year-on-year growth of 11.8% and 2.4% respectively, though gastroenterology saw no significant change.
In contrast, eight of the top ten non-hospital specialities saw year-on-year growth in Q2 with gastroenterology up by 15.1% and obstetrics and gynaecology up 12.2%.
Physiotherapy remained the largest non-hospital speciality with 386,000 invoices, up 5.2% year-on-year.
Radiology (down 14.9%) and psychotherapy (down 10.1%) were the two specialities to record a year-on-year fall in Q2.
Northern Ireland sees strongest growth
In H1 2026, total volumes (hospital and non-hospital) grew across all four UK nations, with Northern Ireland up 11.2% year-on-year.
Wales was a close second (11.1%) while there were year-on-year increases in England and Scotland of 7.2% and 6% respectively.
While London has the largest share of activity, invoice volumes in all but one of the English regions were up more than 5% year-on-year with the East Midlands and North West leading the way (up 18.1% and 14.3% respectively).
The exception was the West Midlands where invoice volumes fell 2.8%.
Strong growth
Richard Aris, director of strategic partnerships and external affairs at Healthcode (pictured), said: “After we reported strong year-on-year growth in PMI volumes in Q1, our data shows the sector has built on this momentum over the last three months.
“The record level of activity confirms the importance of private sector capacity and high quality provision at a time of rising healthcare need.”
