Britain’s relationship with private healthcare is changing – and the biggest change is happening among younger people. New research reported by The Times shows that 25 to 34-year-olds are now the age group most likely to consider private healthcare, driven above all by NHS waiting times, convenience and choice. For My Medical Gateway (MMG), it points to something bigger: patients increasingly care less about who provides their healthcare than how quickly, affordably and conveniently they can access it.
The traditional British argument about healthcare has tended to be remarkably binary: NHS good, private healthcare bad – or, depending on your politics, the other way around.
That increasingly bears little resemblance to how patients actually behave.
Research from the Independent Healthcare Provider Network (IHPN), reported by The Times on 28 August, suggests a striking change in public attitudes. Some 71% of adults would now consider using private healthcare, compared with 63% in 2023. Among both Labour and Conservative voters the figure is 78%.
But perhaps the most significant finding is generational. People aged 25 to 34 are now the age group most likely to say they would use private healthcare during the next year — and 48% have already done so.
This isn’t an ideological rejection of the NHS. Quite the opposite. The Times tells the story of 28-year-old Labour voter Imogen Spanton, who tore her ACL playing rugby. Faced with a nine-month NHS wait for an MRI, she paid nearly £300 privately and was scanned within two weeks. She remains a strong supporter of the NHS. She simply wasn’t prepared to wait nine months to find out what was wrong with her knee. That distinction matters.
Patients are becoming healthcare consumers
For younger generations in particular, the dividing line between “NHS patient” and “private patient” is disappearing. People use the NHS when it works for them. They pay privately when speed or convenience makes that worthwhile. They increasingly expect to move between the two.
Two thirds of people surveyed said convenience and easy access mattered more than whether healthcare was publicly or privately provided. That behaviour is already visible in the real world.
Official Private Healthcare Information Network figures show that UK private hospitals recorded 953,000 admissions in 2025 – the fourth consecutive annual record. Self-pay alone accounted for 283,000 admissions, while insured admissions reached a record 670,000.
The longer-term shift is even clearer. Between 2019 and 2024, total private admissions increased by 20%, while self-pay admissions rose by 38%.
In other words, people aren’t merely telling pollsters that they would consider alternatives. Hundreds of thousands are already paying for them.
Waiting changes behaviour
The reason isn’t difficult to find. NHS England reported this summer that the elective waiting list still stood at 7.22 million pathways, with only 65% within 18 weeks. The NHS constitutional standard is 92%, and the current national plan aims to restore that standard by March 2029. For somebody in pain, unable to work properly, play sport or live normally, 2029 is rather beside the point. They want treatment now.
And that is where we believe the next change in healthcare behaviour will occur.
Why should private healthcare stop at Dover?
Until recently, “going private” in Britain usually meant finding a private hospital down the road and paying whatever it charged. But younger consumers are accustomed to using technology to compare almost everything else they buy.
They compare flights, hotels, insurance and financial services online. They expect transparent prices, reviews, choice and the ability to transact digitally. Why should healthcare remain different?
At My Medical Gateway, we believe the next stage of this revolution is not simply NHS versus UK private healthcare. It is giving patients access to a much wider healthcare market. MMG enables British patients to compare Treatment Packages from accredited hospitals across Europe, see what is included and understand the price before beginning their journey.
For many elective procedures, treatment overseas can offer substantial savings compared with UK private healthcare — while also providing access to highly experienced European consultants and hospitals. And after medical clearance, MMG hospitals offer patients three treatment dates within six weeks.
That is a fundamentally different proposition from simply joining another queue.
This isn’t about abandoning the NHS
The most interesting conclusion from the IHPN research is that younger people don’t appear particularly interested in the old ideological battle between public and private healthcare. Neither are we.
The NHS will remain central to British healthcare. But supporting the NHS does not require patients to surrender choice over their own health. A person can believe passionately in universal healthcare and still decide that waiting months in pain for an operation isn’t acceptable. The generation that grew up comparing everything online is beginning to apply exactly the same thinking to healthcare.
And once patients discover that their choices extend beyond the NHS and the traditional UK private hospital system, the healthcare market becomes much bigger. That isn’t the end of the NHS. It is the beginning of genuine patient choice.
Don’t just wait. Compare your options.
If you are waiting for NHS treatment, you may have more choices than you realise.
With My Medical Gateway, you can compare accredited hospitals across Europe, transparent Treatment Package prices and available treatments in one place — and discover how quickly you could be treated.
Start your MMG journey today at www.mymedicalgateway.com and take control of when and where you receive the treatment you need.
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