Corporate investment in staff health benefits is fuelling record demand for private medical care, according to new analysis from consultancy Broadstone.

Figures from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) show insured admissions hit 171,000 in the first quarter of 2025, the joint highest on record.

In total, private health admissions reached 241,000 in the quarter, with more than 70% funded by insurance.

The surge comes after a record year in 2024, when insured admissions reached 664,000. Broadstone’s review of FCA Financial Lives data indicates that 7.6 million UK adults now have private medical insurance (PMI) – around one in seven – up from 6.7 million in 2020.

NHS STRAIN

The expansion of employer-funded cover coincides with rising strain on NHS services.

The waiting list for treatment stood at 7.40 million in July 2025, up from 7.37 million the previous month. Self-pay admissions, by contrast, have plateaued, with 70,000 treatments recorded in Q1 2025 – the first year-on-year decline for this period.

Brett Hill (main picture), head of health and protection at Broadstone, said:

“Employer demand to provide preventative healthcare services, insurance and health cash plans for their workforce is turbocharging the private healthcare sector.

“It is a win/win, as businesses benefit from the return on investment by keeping staff healthy, productive and present while staff are able to get the medical care they need quickly and affordably.”

INSURANCE PREMIUM TAX BREAK

And he added: “The background to the boom in the private health market is the backlog for treatment that accelerated through the pandemic. While the current Government has made limited progress in bringing this down, there appears little hope of any meaningful improvements in service levels in the short to medium term.

“As such, we’d expect to see businesses increasingly put in place provisions for their employees to access the private health market and insured admissions are likely to continue growing.

“This will inevitably have consequences for insurers. Rising claims incidence and the need for more complex, costly treatments – largely due to delayed care – are already driving up premiums which is impacting the affordability of these valuable products.

“If the Government is serious about alleviating some of the strain on the NHS and driving economic growth, it must recognise the critical role businesses are playing. We hope it considers a targeted Insurance Premium Tax break for health insurance products at the upcoming Autumn Budget.”