Rishi Sunak is registered with a private GP surgery that promises to see patients with urgent concerns “on the day”, it emerged tonight.
The Prime Minister uses a west London clinic that charges £250 for a half-hour appointment - and offers them at evenings and weekends, the Guardian revealed.
The surgery, which has not been named, also offers e-mail and phone consultations for £150, home visits for £400 to £500, and prescriptions for £80.
Downing Street declined to comment.
GP waiting times have soared and more than half a million people in London alone waited more than two weeks for an appointment in September.
Short-lived Health Secretary Therese Coffey had vowed to cut maximum waits to two weeks before she was moved in Rishi Sunak ’s reshuffle.
She later admitted it was only an “expectation” not a legal target, and could mean a phone call.
Mr Sunak refused last week to say if he had private healthcare - claiming it was “not appropriate” to ask him if he pays to get seen quicker.
He told journalists at the G20 summit in Bali: “I wouldn't normally talk about the healthcare me or my family receive for obvious reasons.
“What's important is that we have an NHS and healthcare system that is there for people when they need [it].
“I think most people would appreciate talking about one's family's healthcare is probably not appropriate.”
Mr Sunak’s hero Margaret Thatcher said she had private health insurance in 1987, saying it was “absolutely vital” for her.
She said: “I, along with something like five million other people, insure to enable me to go into hospital on the day I want; at the time I want, and with a doctor I want.”
She added: “I do not add to the queue... I exercise my right as a free citizen to spend my own money in my own way, so that I can go in on the day, at the time, with the doctor I choose and get out fast.”
Paul Evans, director of the NHS Support Federation, told The Guardian: “Private healthcare is not a realistic option for most people.
“Of course the PM can ‘go private’ if he wishes, but it is a reminder that we need politicians that have a long-term belief in the publicly run NHS which most of us rely upon.”
