Key Summary
- Around 78% of Labour and Conservative voters open to using private healthcare, along with 75% of Reform voters, 71% of Lib Dem voters and 69% of Green voters
- There has been an increase in the number of people accessing private care for quality of treatment and convenience.
- A record numbers of people now have access to Private Medical Insurance – primarily through their employers.
People of all "political stripes" are open to using private healthcare, as accessing NHS care remains a challenge, and it is more prevalent among younger adults, according to the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), which represents private providers.
In its latest “Going Private” report, which gauges the public attitudes and behaviours around private healthcare, more than seven out of every ten people (71%) said they would consider using private healthcare in the future – up from 63% three years ago.
This willingness to use private healthcare spans across Labour, Conservative, Reform and Green voters, with people now taking a "pragmatic and unideological view" about how they access the treatment.
Almost 8 in 10 (78%) of Labour and Conservative voters say they would be open to using private healthcare, along with 75% of Reform voters, 71% of Lib Dem voters and 69% of Green voters.
Overall, around one-third of people (34%) in the UK have – at some point in their lives – accessed private healthcare, including 42% of Labour voters and 40% of Green voters.
Four in 10 people (40%) also expect to access private care in the next 12 months, an increase of a third since 2023.
The research – conducted by polling agency Public First and supported by Burges Salmon LLP – has found that younger adults continue to lead the shift in attitudes to accessing private healthcare.
Overall, 85% of 25–34 year olds would now consider “going private” for their healthcare, with over half (56%) expected to use it in the next 12 months.
Just under half (48%) have already used private healthcare.
Reasons for shift
While the challenges in accessing NHS care continues to be the most common reason for people going private for care, there has been an increase in the number of people accessing care privately because of their views on the quality of care – now cited by almost 1 in 4 people that have used private healthcare.
Likewise, people are increasingly attracted to the flexibility and convenience that private healthcare provides – with almost 3 in 10 people (28%) who have gone private saying they did so because it is easier to book appointments, and over 1 in 5 (22%) of people saying they can get more personalised care.
Health insurance
With record numbers of people now having access to Private Medical Insurance (PMI) – primarily through their employers – it’s not surprising that almost 1 in 4 people (23%) say they have gone private because of they have health insurance.
Overall, IHPN’s research has found that patient satisfaction with going private remains very high with almost nine in ten people who have accessed private healthcare through both self pay (86%) or through insurance (89%) saying it was value for money.
Shift in attitude
IHPN Chief Executive David Hare said: “Our latest research points to a significant shift in attitudes towards healthcare. Across generations and political divides, traditional ideological distinctions between NHS and private healthcare appear to be breaking down, with a growing recognition that both can play a role in ensuring access to timely, high-quality treatment.
“Four in ten people now expect to use private healthcare in the coming year, while almost half of 25–34-year-olds have already used it. And this isn’t confined to any one political group: the willingness to go private cuts right across the political spectrum. Increasingly, people don’t see NHS and private healthcare as an either/or choice, they are comfortable using a mixture of both.
“Pressure on NHS access remains an important factor, but it isn’t the whole story. People are also looking for greater choice, convenience, and more personalised care, and their expectations of healthcare are increasingly being shaped by the seamless, digitally-enabled services they experience elsewhere in their lives.
“This is particularly true of younger generations. They are more likely to see health insurance as an important workplace benefit, fund treatment directly themselves and are increasingly comfortable navigating between NHS-funded and privately funded services.
“The debate about healthcare needs to better reflect the way people are actually choosing to access care, with a strong NHS at its heart, but greater recognition that independent healthcare can and does play an increasingly significant role alongside it.”
Patrick Parkin, Partner at Burges Salmon LLP said: “The data suggests the public increasingly sees private healthcare as complementary to the NHS, rather than simply an alternative. With 71% of people open to private treatment and demand rising across demographics, it’s clear this trend reflects broader expectations around choice, convenience, and care access.
“However, there is still much more to do to support patients in navigating private healthcare and to fill the significant gaps in knowledge that exist around the range, cost or accessibility of accessing care privately – something which will be increasingly important as demand for treatment grows.”
Dental care shift
A recent Nuffield Trust report had stated that around 600 dental practices in England have stopped providing general NHS dentistry services since 2017, and more practices are moving towards private care.
The analysis stated that the proportion of dental practices offering general NHS dentistry has fallen from around 65% in 2017 to around 56% in 2026.
Over the same period, the number of practices holding an NHS general dental contract has fallen by around 600.
