Can I go private for a nasal polyp removal, then have it done on the NHS?

Yes — with rules. For a nasal polyp removal, the expensive part is the nasal polypectomy itself, which would cost about £3,600–£6,500 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 nasal polypectomy — free. Seeing a private consultant does not cost you your NHS place or change your NHS waiting-list position.

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. 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
• British Medical Association

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