Can A Rise In Private Health Insurance Put A Dent in Rising NHS Waiting Times?

NHS waiting times have been a hot topic for decades, so what happens when you add a global pandemic to the mix?   

Some NHS Trusts in Wales warning that it will take ‘years’ for waiting times to recover to pre-Covid levels.  Figures published today by the NHS in respect of numbers of patients waiting for either appointments, tests, scans or indeed procedures in Wales during January 2020 totalled 462,358 with varying degrees of waiting times.

Within the last 9-month period from January 2020 to September 2020 numbers of patients waiting more than 9 months (36 weeks) has increased by an astounding 518% seeing figures jumping from 27,314 in January to 168,944 in September 2020. Whereas figures for those waiting between 6 and 9 months has increased by a staggering 136% with figures rising from 29,548 to 116,807.

Some of the longest waiting times included 41,202 people waiting for orthopaedic or trauma treatment (an increase of 372% since January) and 203 awaiting cardiothoracic surgery, seeing a further four-fold increase.  There are suggestions too from a recent BBC Wales investigation that at least 49,000 people were waiting more than a year for treatment.

However, whilst these figures make for some difficult reading, it should still be noted that those waiting up to 26 weeks for treatment still show the largest proportion of patients within the time period reported.

Conversely in a recent interview with the Guardian, Compare the Market advised that they had seen a 40% increase in private health insurance policies compared to previous years over the past seven months.  Their expectation is that this demand will continue to exceed pre-Covid levels over the winter months.  Their Head of Life Insurance, Kamran Altaf was quoted as saying ‘We believe that during a time of considerable uncertainty, many customers value the additional reassurance private healthcare can bring’.

Back in 2014 The King’s Fund reported that around 11% of households had some sort of private health insurance, however at the time warned of misleading information when it came to the level of comprehensive cover. But year on year, the levels of those considering private medical insurance has grown and is indicatively linked to overall household income.  Statista revealed figures obtained in 2017 showing that nearly 30% of households with an annual income of £50,000 or more to have some level of private health insurance with an additional 20% considering this option.

As a nation, the UK is one of only 67 worldwide countries to offer universal healthcare, with the NHS being ranked as one of the best healthcare systems in the world by the US-Based Commonwealth Fund. Where we are in awe of our healthcare workers and the continued response of NHS departments, perhaps we are now seeing a dawn of awakening in terms of owning our healthcare choices and routes. So perhaps our understanding of how we can access healthcare is shifting in line with the reassurance and perhaps independence that private health insurance can offer.