Long wait times on the NHS have pushed patients across the UK to pay eye-watering private fees for their operations, with many procedures costing people thousands of pounds.
Figures from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) show that there were 69,000 self-funded treatments in the UK in the final three months of 2021. This is a 39% rise when compared to the same period of time pre-pandemic. Data for the North East shows an increase of 34%, just below the national average, a sign that patients are getting increasingly desperate to receive treatments that they've been waiting for.
Although the North East 's percentage increase is just under the national average, that still equates to 1,505 self-pay admissions in the final three months of 2021. This is an increase of 380 people from the same period in 2019.
For the whole of the UK, the common procedures driving self-pay growth are cataract surgery, hip replacements, and knee replacements. The number of hip replacements has risen the most, with a 314% increase from 2019 in the North East. Knee replacements also doubled in the North East.
As of May 2022, 856,627 people were waiting for treatments on the NHS, according to the NHS Waitlist tracker. That comes out to a 10.5-week average wait time. Orthopaedics, or treatment of bones, is the area with the highest number of people waiting, matching the data showing an increase in people seeking private treatment for their hips and knees.
The study came shortly after Newcastle MP Chi Onwurah warned that some patients in the region had been forced to wait up to 11 hours for an ambulance as she demanded more cash for health services in the region. Ms Onwurah said: “Of the 22,000 people who visited Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary A&E in May, 13% – over 3,000 people – have faced a wait of over four hours, and last month I know people were facing waits of seven hours.
"We have had people who have had rapid heart fluctuations who have been told that they face a wait of 11 hours for an ambulance and they need to get a cab. “Isn’t it absolutely negligent of her Government to leave our NHS unable to protect my constituents, particularly facing a heatwave, and what is she going to do to ensure they have the resources necessary?”
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