The Health Guide — clear answers, healthier tomorrows

    The Health Guide

    Key figures

    These are the figures we rely on across the site. Each one is taken from the official publication named beneath it, with the date that edition was released, so you can check it yourself.

    How this page works

    We do not estimate and we do not scrape. A figure appears here only once someone on the team has read the official release and entered the number, the publication and its date. Where a figure has not been recorded yet, you will see a visible marker rather than a guess — the same rule we apply in our standards.

    NHS England waiting times

    Published monthly by NHS England. These are the figures most people are weighing up when they look at going private.

    Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

    Each nation publishes its own waiting-time statistics on its own timetable, and they are not directly comparable with England.

    Private treatment

    How much private care is being paid for directly, rather than through insurance.

    Insurance

    Industry-wide figures published by the Association of British Insurers.

    Using these figures

    Waiting times differ enormously between hospitals and between specialties, so a national figure is a starting point, not an answer for your own situation. Nothing on this page is advice, medical or financial: see how we are funded and our sources. If you think a figure here is out of date or wrong, please tell us and we will check it against the publication.

    Questions about your own cover?

    A PremierPMI specialist can talk it through. No pressure, no obligation.

    Speak to a specialist 020 4525 0884

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