The NHS has spent a record £12.3billion outsourcing patients to private hospitals to try to clear waiting lists, figures show.
Official data reveals a 12 per cent increase over the past year, with the total surpassing the sum spent at the height of the pandemic.
Department of Health accounts show £12.357billion spent on private sector providers in 2023/24, up from £11.015billion in 2022/23. The figure is higher than in 2020/21, the first year of the pandemic, when £12.139billion was spent.
Health officials said NHS use of the private sector has risen by 50 per cent since 2021, with more than 100,000 appointments and procedures carried out by independent hospitals for the health service per week.
Saffron Cordery, NHS Providers interim chief executive, warned the spending cannot be a long-term solution. ‘With waiting list numbers so high, NHS trusts welcome the support of longstanding independent sector partners – with the costlier and more complex treatments usually staying in NHS hands – so that more patients get tests, scans and treatment as quickly as possible,’ she told The Sunday Telegraph. ‘But using the independent sector isn’t a long-term solution to bringing down NHS waiting lists.’
Sir Keir Starmer has said that by July 2029, 92 per cent of patients will be seen within 18 weeks for pre-planned care.
Health officials said NHS use of the private sector has risen by 50 per cent since 2021
The Prime Minister said in five years time, 92 per cent of patients will be seen within 18 weeks for pre-planned care
David Hare, chief executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, said: ‘These latest figures show the increasingly pivotal role of independent providers in the NHS’s recovery, including through now delivering one in five NHS-funded operations and diagnostics tests, as well as a significant proportion of NHS community services.’
He added that the network’s analysis suggested the number of operations and appointments being carried out would need to increase by a fifth immediately for the 18-week target to be hit. This could result in around 320,000 people being taken off NHS waiting lists every month.
A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘Where there is spare capacity in the private sector which can be used to treat patients, on NHS terms, free at the point of use, we will use it to cut waiting lists.’
