Surgery: Private Sector
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the proportion of elective surgery undertaken in the independent sector; and how this compares in numerical terms and as a percentage with each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The following table shows information relating to elective episodes with procedures, which includes elective surgery alongside other procedures which may be performed elsewhere:
Operational Year | Episodes with a procedure in independent sector providers | Episodes with a procedure in NHS providers | Independent sector provider episodes with a procedure as percentage of total episodes with a procedure |
2021/22 | 609,200 | 6,850,963 | 8.2% |
2022/23 | 793,137 | 7,235,749 | 9.9% |
2023/24 | 847,417 | 7,731,835 | 9.9% |
2024/25 | 924,939 | 8,407,808 | 9.9% |
2025/26* | 834,803* | 8,251,733* | 9.2%* |
Source: NHS England
Note: Data for 2025/26 is currently provisional and may be subject to change.
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