Private hospital admissions in Scotland hitting record levels

The Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) said there appeared to be “an increasing appetite or need” for the private sector.

Opposition politicians said the figures should be “a source of shame” for the Scottish government.

PHIN said the 13,140 reported admissions in the third quarter of 2025 were at the highest level ever for that time of year and represented a 7 per cent increase on the same period in 2024.

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Private medical insurance remained the preferred payment method and the number of admissions funded this way increased by 5 per cent.

However, self-pay admissions - where the patient pays directly for their treatment through savings or loans - increased by 10 per cent. The difference between the payment types was just over 1,000 admissions.

There were increases in admissions for every age group, PHIN said, except for children aged 0-9. The biggest increase was in the 40-49 year old group. The highest number of admissions (2,550) came for patients in the 50-59 age group.

Cataracts were the most common reason for admission (2,255) and were up by 5 per cent. The next two highest admissions were for hip replacement (620) and upper gastro-intestinal endoscopy (580).

There were more consultants (523) active in private practice in Scotland than ever before.

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie accused the SNP of creating a “two-tier health system”.

She said: “As a result of John Swinney and the SNP having no meaningful plan, no strategy, and no ideas to save our NHS, people are increasingly using their life savings to pay for private treatment.

“This is an unsustainable situation which will leave Scots worse off financially, while thousands remain stuck on long waiting lists for treatment. Scotland’s NHS can’t afford another five years of the SNP.”

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Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane, a practising GP, said: “These figures should be a source of shame for SNP ministers.

“John Swinney looks set to break his promise to eradicate year-long waits in Scotland’s NHS by the end of March.

“That failure is forcing more and more patients to raid their lifesavings and go private, while those who can’t afford this option are left to suffer in pain. SNP ministers cannot ignore this crisis a second longer.”

Richard Wells, PHIN’s director of technology and insights, said: “As an independent and not-for-profit organisation, our remit is to improve understanding of the private sector in the UK to help patients make more informed decisions.

“Our latest data shows that in Scotland, there seems to be an increasing appetite or need to use the private healthcare sector for diagnostic tests and treatment.

“There are seasonal variations throughout the year with quarter 3 normally being the lowest period. Although that pattern continued in 2025, there were the highest number of admissions we’ve ever seen for a third quarter.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “These figures represent a very small fraction of all operations and procedures carried out in Scotland – indeed activity in our NHS is increasing compared to last year with thousands more appointments, operations and procedures being delivered.

“Latest waiting times figures show our plan is delivering for the people of Scotland - waits of over a year have decreased for 8 consecutive months, with new outpatient waits of more than 52 weeks more than halving since July 2025.

“We are determined to continue to build on this momentum, ensuring people receive the treatment they need as soon as possible.”