Women in Britain are paying up to £11,154 for a hysterectomy in a private hospital, amid huge delays for NHS gynaecological care, research reveals.
The cost of undergoing the procedure privately has soared by 19% from £7,385 in 2021 to £8,795 last year, at a time when NHS waiting lists have risen sharply.
The disclosure has prompted claims independent sector healthcare providers are taking advantage of long waits for health service treatment by increasing their prices.
The number of women waiting for care in an NHS hospital for conditions such as fibroids and endometriosis more than doubled from 360,400 when Covid struck in 2020 to 749,329, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has shown.
In November 584,607 women in England were on an NHS gynaecological waiting list, with 20,809 of them being on the list for more than a year, which led to a growing number of women going private to beat delays.
Women undergo a hysterectomy to treat problems linked to their reproductive system, such as heavy periods, fibroids or chronic period pains. More than 40,000 women a year in England undergo a procedure on the NHS, mainly those in their 40s and 50s, though numbers are falling.
The cost of the operation in a private hospital rose across England, Scotland and Wales between 2021 and 2024, an analysis found. Prices rose by 22% in the south-west of England in that time and by 18% in the West Midlands, according to the research by MyTribe Insurance Experts, who track the cost of private healthcare.
The highest price for the procedure being charged last year by a private hospital was £11,154 in Yorkshire and the Humber and lowest was £6,420 in the south-west, the firm said. In Yorkshire and the Humber– the most expensive region – a hysterectomy cost an average £9,765, followed by the east of England (£9,709) and Scotland (£9,355).
“The chronic underfunding of the NHS over the past decade has meant that women are sadly too often unable to access gynaecology services, often leaving them in intense pain,” said David Rowland, the director of the Centre for Health and the Public Interest research group.
“Inevitably private hospitals are going to turn underfunding of the health service to their advantage, which includes raising prices for treatment which can’t readily be accessed on the NHS.”
Women who go private “are not only at risk of being charged eye-watering amounts, they are also at risk of being given unnecessary treatment, which could lead to serious harm”, he added.
Dr Ranee Thakar, the RCOG’s president, said untreated conditions “have a devastating impact on almost every aspect of [women’s] lives, including their physical and mental health, and their ability to work and socialise.
“Long NHS waiting times are certainly a factor in why some women choose to have their surgery privately,” she added.
Chris Steele, the director of MyTribe, said the price rises were concerning. He advised women considering going private to compare prices at several hospitals and to look at having the operation outside their home area.
Those in England could ask their GP if the NHS would pay for them to have it at a private hospital under its patient choice framework, he added.
The Independent Healthcare Providers Network blamed rising prices on high inflation. “Independent providers, like all parts of the UK economy, have faced rising costs over the last few years. However, these figures show that the cost increase over four years for hysterectomy procedures have been below the rate of inflation,” a spokesperson said.
The trade body’s recent Going Private report found that 88% of people who had used private healthcare thought it was worth the money, they added.
Source: The Guardian
