Claims private sector taking advantage of long waits as cost of procedure rises sharply. 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.
