There were more private hospital admissions in Northern Ireland in 2024 than in any previous year on record, according to the latest data from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) – the independent organisation which publishes information about the safety, quality and costs of private healthcare. Reported private hospital/clinic admissions were up 12% from 2023 to reach 24,000.
The most common admission was for ‘Cataract surgery’ reaching nearly 5,000 (or 21% of the total private admissions in Northern Ireland in 2024). For comparison, Cataract surgery is only 8% of all procedures when looking across all private admissions in the UK.
Richard Wells, Director of Tech, Product and Informatics at PHIN, said: “Our data shows that more and more people in Northern Ireland are turning to the private healthcare sector. In fact, there were the same number of private hospital admissions in just three months in 2024 as in the whole of 2019.
“2024 was the fourth consecutive year of growth in private hospital admissions in Northern Ireland and there’s been a 267% increase since 2019.
“Cataract surgery was by far the most popular reason for being admitted to a private hospital in Northern Ireland. This is one of the more straightforward procedures and ‘going private’ for it is also popular across the UK.
“An increasing number of patients are using private medical insurance to fund their procedure, 60% of admissions were paid for this way in 2024. This could be due to people planning for their health more by taking out insurance, or the increasing number of employers offering medical insurance as one of their perks.”
“Our research shows that people often aren’t familiar with the private sector and anyone considering private treatment should visit our free to use, unbiased website – www.phin.org.uk – to find out more about how the private sector works, and the hospitals and consultants in Northern Ireland who can help them.”
More consultants than ever before working in private sector
The number of active consultants in Northern Ireland in 2024 has increased slightly over the past three years and 2024 was at the highest level ever recorded.
The largest volume and percentage increase in active consultants in the top 10 procedure groups in 2024 was in ‘Ophthalmology’ with an extra seven consultants (32%). There were 26 consultants working in this specialty. This is just over 10% of the total consultants working in the private sector in Northern Ireland.
