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NHS guide · knee replacement

Can I go private for a knee replacement, then have it done on the NHS?

The short answer

Yes — with rules. For a knee replacement, the expensive part is the knee replacement itself, which would cost about £13,200–£16,000 privately but stays free on the NHS. The bottleneck is the wait to be seen. So you can pay for a private consultation (typically £200–£500) to be assessed in weeks, then transfer back to the NHS for the knee replacement — free. Seeing a private consultant does not cost you your NHS place or change your NHS waiting-list position.

What the rules actually are

You can pay privately to be seen and diagnosed, and still have your treatment on the NHS. — British Medical Association
Seeing a private consultant does not cost you your NHS place — your entitlement to NHS care cannot be withdrawn. — Dept. of Health guidance, 2009
A private consultation does not change your position on the NHS waiting list. — Dept. of Health guidance, 2009
NHS and private care must be kept separate, and the NHS will not subsidise private care. — Dept. of Health guidance, 2009
After a private diagnosis you are entitled to transfer back to the NHS for treatment; ideally your consultant arranges it by writing to the NHS. — Dept. of Health guidance, 2009

Why this works — where the wait actually is

On the NHS, most of the wait is the wait to be seen by a consultant, not the treatment itself. If you pay for that one step privately (a private consultation is typically £200–£500), you can usually be seen within weeks instead of months. You then transfer back to the NHS for the treatment, which stays free. You are paying to move faster through the cheap step, not to buy your way out of the NHS.

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.

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Related

Can I go private, then back to the NHS?
The general answer →
Knee replacement waiting times
NHS + private waits, and your three routes →
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