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NHS waiting lists drive more people to pay for treatment

An increasing number of people in the UK are paying for private medical treatment because of the record delays people are facing trying to access NHS care, a report from Laing & Buisson has revealed.

People are using their own savings to pay for procedures that involve some of the longest waiting times in NHS hospital, such as diagnostic tests, cataract removals and joint replacements. The increase in the willingness to self-pay is closely linked to a desire for private treatments that was increasing even before Covid struck in March 2020. But many private hospitals were unable to meet that demand for much of the pandemic because coronavirus disrupted so much normal healthcare.

Full story in The Guardian, 20 April 2022

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