Private healthcare market activity has returned to pre-pandemic levels amid a surge in demand for self pay treatment.
Data from the Private Health Information Network (PHIN) showed there were 198,000 private patient admissions in Q4 2021 including 129,000 insured.
In comparison during Q4 2019 before the pandemic there were 197,000 private patient admissions.
However, self funding has soared as NHS waiting lists, which were already in excess of four million people before Covid-19, have further accelerated to 6.6 million at the latest count.
As a result, in Q4 2021 there were 69,000 self-pay admissions, up 39% compared to the same quarter in 2019. Looking across the whole of the year, 2021 saw a 29% rise in self-pay admissions compared with 2019.
At the same time, the number of people receiving treatment on an insured basis continued to come in below 2019 levels. Q4 2021 data shows insured activity is 13% below the same period in 2019. For the full year, insured activity was down 16% in 2021 compared with 2019.
London continued to be the most active self-pay market, with almost 14,000 self-pay admissions between October and December 2021, with the South East next with just over 11,000.
While in previous quarters London saw growth under 10% in the number of people self-paying, the latest reported data revealed a 20% rise compared with 2019.
Meanwhile Wales with a 90% rise compared to 2019, Scotland (84%) and the East Midlands (75%) continued to experience the most significant growth in the self-pay market.
The number of people seeking cataract surgery on a self-pay basis was up to 12,700 in Q4 2021, an increase of 56% on the same quarter of 2019.
And while activity volumes were lower for hip and knee replacements compared with cataract surgery, both continued to see triple digit growth of 141% and 111% respectively.