New figures published earlier this month show the extent to which some Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) have increased their use of the private sector since Labour took office last July, and the extent to which a minority of ICBs have become much more dependent on private providers than others.
Some readers will be shocked to find that the penetration of the private hospital sector – after so many years of privatisation – is not at all on the level implied by some exaggerated accounts. While some specialties have suffered greater erosion than others, the lion’s share of elective treatment as a whole (as well as all emergency care) is still entirely delivered by the NHS.
The most privatised of NHS elective services are ophthalmology and orthopaedics, but even here the NHS is still by far the largest provider: the July figures show the private sector delivered 22.1% of ophthalmic and 20.5% of orthopaedic procedures, leaving 77.9% and 79.5% of caseload respectively to the NHS.
Of course, the damage done is more wide-ranging than the bare numbers suggest. The drain of resources away from NHS providers, and the profit margins that keep the private sector seeking more NHS-funded work mean that every pound spent in the private sector delivers less value in the form of patient care than the same amount spent on in-house NHS services.
Full article in The Lowdown, 3 October 2025
