Released on = April 16, 2007, 4:13 am

Press Release Author = Bharat Book Bureau

Industry = Marketing

Press Release Summary = Private Healthcare - Market Report estimates that the UK
private healthcare market was valued at £16.18bn in 2003, increasing by 6% between
2002 and 2003. Although the private healthcare market is comparatively small when
compared with the National Health Service (NHS) and private healthcare in other
developed countries, it has been growing in importance in recent years.

Press Release Body =
Private Healthcare - Market Report

Private Healthcare - Market Report estimates that the UK private healthcare market
was valued at £16.18bn in 2003, increasing by 6% between 2002 and 2003. Although the
private healthcare market is comparatively small when compared with the National
Health Service (NHS) and private healthcare in other developed countries, it has
been growing in importance in recent years. For the purpose of this report, private
healthcare in the UK is analysed in terms of five distinct market sectors: long term
care; acute care; private health insurance; psychiatric care; and primary care. Long
term care relates to residential care, either in a nursing home or a residential
care home. Acute care relates to elective surgery, but excludes accident and
emergency treatments. Private health insurance handles the market for private health
insurance policies. Psychiatric care ranges from the treatment of acute psychiatric
conditions to ongoing disorders such as substance abuse, but this sector does not
include residential care for the mentally disabled. Primary care refers to private
general practitioner (GP) services and occupational health services. Out of these
five market sectors, acute care and psychiatric care have been the best-performing
areas of private healthcare over the past 5 years.

A number of political initiatives by the current Labour Government have had and will
have a significant impact on the private healthcare sector in the UK. The most
significant development has been the sustained increased funding of the NHS, the
private sector\'s main competitor. Ordinarily this would be a major threat to private
sector healthcare. However, instead it has provided opportunities for growth and the
Government\'s planned programme of reforms is likely to continue to open up new
opportunities for the private healthcare sector in the UK because these reforms
promote a partnership approach between the NHS and private healthcare. A major
limiting factor for the private sector and indeed the NHS is the current shortage of
medical professionals in virtually all areas of medicine and nursing.

Since 2000 and 2001, the private acute sector has benefited from the Government\'s
initiative to cut waiting lists and waiting times for operations, because this has
allowed the NHS to make use of the private sector to help clear the backlog of
operations. Long term care is currently experiencing a period of slow growth due to
a temporary decrease in the number of people aged 85 years and over. This
demographic trend was caused by the effects of World War I. Psychiatric care has
been experiencing double digit growth in recent years, mainly as a result of the NHS
contracting out acute psychiatric care to the private sector. Growth opportunities
in primary care remain rather limited for private GP services as a result of
competition in terms of price and service from NHS GPs and a general shortage of
qualified GPs in the UK at the moment. Reforms to the NHS and reductions in waiting
times for elective surgery have translated into slower growth for private health
insurance and more people taking a `wait and see approach\' with the NHS, and cutting
back on private health insurance which is generally viewed as a luxury rather than
an essential.

The outlook for the UK private healthcare market is positive with growth anticipated
across all five market sectors. Although the NHS is being better funded by central
government and is undergoing reform, these reforms are enabling the NHS to take a
partnership approach with the private healthcare sector, and new areas of healthcare
that have traditionally been dominated by the NHS, e.g. primary care, are likely to
open up more to the private sector in years to come.

The private healthcare sector as a whole is forecast to grow overall by 23% between
2004 and 2008.

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