Can I go private for a cataract surgery, then have it done on the NHS?

Yes, but with an important caveat for cataract surgery. A cataract is spotted quickly at an eye test, so being seen and diagnosed privately does not move you up the surgery queue. What paying does buy is the cataract surgery, standard monofocal lens (per eye) itself done privately and fast, about £2,000–£3,500, rather than waiting for it free on the NHS. You keep your NHS place either way: seeing a private consultant does not cost it, and does not change your NHS waiting-list position.

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.

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• 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 cataract surgery: 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.