Can I go private, then back to the NHS?

Yes: with rules. You can pay privately to be seen and diagnosed faster, then move back to the NHS for your treatment, which stays free. Seeing a private consultant does not cost you your NHS place, and it does not change your position on the NHS waiting list. NHS and private care must be kept separate, and the NHS will not subsidise private care.

The rules you have to keep to

NHS and private care must be kept clearly separate: a single episode of care cannot be part-NHS, part-private, and the NHS cannot top up or subsidise private treatment. In practice that means you pay in full for the private consultation and any private scan, and your NHS treatment is then funded and delivered by the NHS like anyone else’s.

One honest caveat

When you rejoin the NHS for treatment, you are placed on the list according to your clinical need. Getting diagnosed privately can mean you reach that treatment list sooner than if you had waited for an NHS consultation: a real advantage, and one to weigh openly rather than a loophole. It does not change anyone else’s clinical priority, and it does not affect your existing NHS waiting-list position. If you have already been referred, your NHS clock is running and a private consultation alongside it does not change your place. If you have not been referred yet, there is no place to keep: your clock starts when a hospital receives your referral, whoever sends it.

Going private before you are referred

If a private consultation is what gets you referred, your NHS wait starts from that referral, not from when your symptoms began or when you first saw your GP. You lose nothing by going private first, because you had no NHS clock running to lose. But you do not gain a head start either. Ask your GP for an NHS referral at the same time, so the clock starts while you are being seen privately.

Enter your postcode: no sign-up, the number appears right here.

• Dept. of Health guidance, 2009 (opens in new tab)
• British Medical Association (opens in new tab)

How long will you really wait, and how could you go sooner?

Your free dashboard compares all four paths for your treatment: wait, switch to a faster NHS hospital, part-private, or fully private. It names the faster hospitals near you, shows what going private would cost, and gives you letters ready to send. You can print it or save it as a PDF. Free, and nothing is locked or paid.