A Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) report finds many patients are unsure where to start when using private healthcare.

Dr Ian Gargan, PHIN chief executive, said: ‘There are several underlying issues at play, not least the lack of health literacy among the UK population.'

NHSE research has shown 43% of adults do not understand written health information.

The PHIN report found:

• 77% of the UK public were open to using private healthcare
• of the 84% who would research private healthcare before using it, 28% wouldn't know where to start
• 26% felt ‘very confident' in organising and using private healthcare
• 29% felt it was easy to make decisions without trusted information, dropping to 9% among those who self-report as having low confidence
• 82% of people would consider using the information provided by PHIN once its role was explained.

There were 953,000 reported private hospital admissions in 2025, a total that has increased in each of the past five years.