When most people think about going private for their healthcare, they might picture one appointment, one procedure, and ‘job done’. But for hundreds of thousands of patients, the picture is much more complex. In this blog post, PHIN’s Dr Chris Smith Brown (Clinical Advisor) and Ashwani Sharma (Healthcare Data Analyst) explore how many patients return for care over time.
More patients return than you might think
Between 2021 and 2023 there were more than 2.6 million private hospital admissions across the UK. Out of these, PHIN found about 169,000 patients who had more than one admission. Over 141,000 went back to the same hospital they first visited. This may reflect patient satisfaction, although individual circumstances will vary.
What return visits look like
For most people, returning meant coming back just once. Over 120,000 people had a second procedure, often a natural follow-up to their first: cataract surgery on both eyes, have two joints replaced, or an endoscopy followed by a colonoscopy. Rather than a sign of things going wrong, they are part of a planned care journey.
At the other end of the scale, around 7,000 patients had more than ten admissions. These are usually people managing serious ongoing conditions, such as cancer treatment, dialysis, or regular pain management. For them, private healthcare is not a one-off experience but a longer term commitment.
Who comes back most often
Repeat patients tended to be aged 40 and above, with the biggest group aged between 70 and 79. Older patients are more likely to have several health conditions and need follow-up care or planned stages of treatment.
Only around 12,000 patients switched to a different hospital, and 28,000 changed consultant. This means that nearly 84% stayed with the same doctor. We did not look at whether patients had moved home or whether they had new clinical needs. Even so, the high number of people returning to the same consultant suggests good levels of satisfaction.
What this means for hospitals
Patients are not just using private healthcare and moving on. Many of them are building relationships with consultants and hospitals over time.
Cataract surgery is the most common repeat procedure, with over 28,000 patients having both eyes treated. While many patients have both procedures privately, some told us they had one cataract operation on the NHS and the other privately. Chemotherapy, endoscopy and joint replacements are also areas where demand is consistent and growing.
Understanding this behaviour can help hospitals plan their services, build strong clinical teams and offer care that meets patient needs. Hospitals need to focus not only on attracting new patients, but on retaining them through good care and continuity.
PHIN’s vision is that everyone can make choices about their healthcare that lead to good outcomes. As private healthcare grows, insights into repeat use of private healthcare help inform that aim.
This article was written by PHIN and first published in Healthcare Markets magazine. It has since been edited and abridged for the PHIN website.
