In the latest of our quarterly updates, we use our unique national dataset to provide a comprehensive view of the key trends in Scotland’s independent healthcare sector, covering data up to and including the end of Q3 2025.

The data covers private healthcare in-patient/day-case market activity and includes breakdowns by year for insured cases, ‘self-pay’, Top 10 procedures and demographics.

(Q1 = Jan – Mar; Q2 = Apr – Jun; Q3 = Jul – Sep; Q4 = Oct – Dec)

Private healthcare sector market activity

At a glance

Changes from Q3 2024 to Q3 2025:

• Reported private hospital/clinic admissions were up 7% in Scotland.
• Private medical insurance admissions increased by 5%.
• Self-pay admissions increased by 10%.
• Highest Q3 figures ever.

Private healthcare patient admissions at records levels in third quarter of 2025

The total number of admissions in Q3 2025 was 13,140 which is the highest ever for this period of a year. It is also 7% above Q3 2024 which held the previous record (12,240) for the July to September period. All the UK nations except Northern Ireland saw increases, but Scotland’s was the highest.

Both private medical insurance funded admissions and self-pay increase

Insured admissions
Reported admissions paid for with private medical insurance in Q3 2025 (7,100) rose by 5% compared to the same period in 2024.

Self-pay admissions
Self-pay admissions in Scotland (6,040) in Q3 2025 were up 10% compared to Q3 2024.

The proportion of admissions paid for using self-pay increased by four percentage points from Q3 2024 to Q3 2025.

Top 10 procedures

There was an increase in admissions for five of the Top 10 procedures by volume when comparing Q3 2025 to Q2 2024. Two saw declines and three stayed at the same level.

‘Cataract surgery’ (2,255 admissions) is the largest procedure by volume, and increased by 115 (5%). ‘Hip replacement’ (620) is the second highest but declined by 15 (2%). ‘Upper GI endoscopy - diagnostic’ had the largest percentage increase (17%), and the third highest volume (580).

Active consultants in private healthcare

The number of consultants active in private healthcare regularly fluctuates as new consultants start working in the private sector, and existing ones go on sabbatical, stop practising privately, or retire.

In Q3 2025, there were 523 active consultants in Scotland. This is the highest level ever, and 20 more than in Q3 2024.

‘Trauma and orthopaedics’ had the most active consultants (141) and the biggest volume increase (11). Gynaecology had the largest percentage increase (35%).

‘Medical oncology’ was the only procedure in the top 10 to experience a decrease (11%), though this was only a reduction of one consultant.

Patient demographics

Female insured admissions increased by 5%, and male insured admissions increased by 6%. The gap between the sexes was 235 admissions.

Self-pay funded admissions increased by 4% for female admissions and 14% for male admissions. There were 805 more admissions for female patients using this payment method.

The most admissions (2,550) came for patients in the 50-59 age group. The next highest (2,410) came in the 60-69 age group.

There was an increase in admissions in all age groups except for the 0-9 year olds in Q3 2025 compared to the same quarter in 2024. There was a volume decrease of 35 (-27%) for that age group.

The largest volume increase (215) was in the 40-49 group and percentage increase (15%) was in the 20-29 age group.

Important notes

All data described above is taken from PHIN’s unique, national private dataset describing discharge activity (day case and inpatient). This excludes activity outside of PHIN’s mandate from the Competition and Markets Authority, such as outpatient diagnostics, physiotherapy and mental health services.

There is a time lag between collecting, validating and processing the data we receive from hospitals before we can publish it. This can be up to six months after treatment has been completed, to ensure a fair process and accurate data.

Occasionally, hospitals may submit data after our deadline. This will not be included in the current quarter’s Market Update, but will be added to future ones. For this reason, we always recommend only using figures from the latest Update as they can change.

For ease of use, we have reduced the number of years of data shown in the Market Update. If you would like to access pre-2023 data, please get in touch.

Activity numbers have been rounded to the nearest five, with percentages based on the unrounded figures.