By Brett Hill, Head of Health and Protection
Summary
Rising private healthcare utilisation is no longer just a reflection of NHS pressures – it is playing a crucial role in helping to tackle the UK’s workforce productivity challenge. Brett Hill, Head of Health and Protection at Broadstone, explains how employers are increasingly turning to private healthcare benefits and preventative health strategies to reduce absence, support employee wellbeing and manage long-term costs.
Rising private healthcare utilisation is helping tackle the UK’s workforce productivity challenge
The latest data from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) shows the continuation of a trend that emerged following the pandemic. Private hospital admissions reached 230,000 between July and September 2025 – a third-quarter record and 1% higher than the same period in 2024 – with a record 162,000 people using Private Medical Insurance (PMI) to fund their treatment.
Demand for fast access to diagnosis and treatment is clearly rising, and increasingly, it is being met through private healthcare as the NHS struggles to make headway in reducing long waiting times. For UK businesses, this is not just a healthcare story – it’s a workforce productivity one.
Delays in diagnosis and treatment do not just affect individual health outcomes. They impact:
- Absence levels
- Employee wellbeing
- Day-to-day productivity
- Business resilience
As a result, more organisations are reassessing the role that private healthcare benefits play within their business and overall employee benefits strategy. In this article, I look at how rising private healthcare usage is helping tackle the UK’s workforce productivity challenge, and what employers can do to better manage absence, improve access to care, and control long-term costs.
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Record private admissions highlight growing demand for faster access to treatment
Record levels of private hospital admissions, funded largely by PMI, reflect a clear change in how people are accessing healthcare in the UK.
This rise in private admissions is not simply a short-term reaction to NHS pressures. It points to a more structural shift, where employees – and their employers – are increasingly seeing private healthcare as the default, ‘go-to’ solution when diagnosis and treatment are needed.
As a result, we are seeing a broader mix of treatments being carried out privately than in previous years. This widening range of procedures reflects a growing demand for timely diagnosis and care across a wider set of conditions, rather than private healthcare being reserved for major treatments only.
When employees are unable to access care quickly, conditions can worsen, recovery can take longer, and time away from work can increase. Access to timely and predictable healthcare has therefore become a critical factor in maintaining workforce availability, particularly where delays to diagnosis or treatment risk extending absence and making recovery more complex.
For employers, the implications are hard to ignore. An ongoing crisis in public healthcare and changing employee expectations are combining to make private healthcare benefits an essential component of an effective benefits strategy.
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Employers are stepping in as delays begin to impact workforce health and absence
In many cases, employers are stepping in to fund faster access to diagnosis and treatment through private healthcare, because they have little choice. Long NHS waiting times have increasingly led to sick employees being off work for longer, taking longer to recover, and in some cases leaving the workforce altogether as conditions worsen.
This has created a direct challenge for employers – both operationally and financially.
It is no surprise that we are seeing continued growth in corporate PMI and wider health benefits. Businesses are recognising that access to timely healthcare is not just a wellbeing consideration, but an important factor in supporting attendance, retention, productivity and operational resilience.
This increased utilisation of private healthcare, however, can also bring cost pressures. As more employees claim and claims become more frequent, premiums may rise. Many organisations are now reviewing how their private medical insurance benefits are structured, looking to balance access to care with long-term affordability and incorporating a focus on prevention and early detection of poor health.
Read more: Employee absence management: How employers can reduce cost and improve return-to-work outcomes
Healthcare is shifting from an employee benefit to a business-critical investment
Historically, private healthcare has often been positioned as a valued and attractive employee benefit – something that enhances a broader reward package. That framing is changing.
For many employers, business private medical insurance is now viewed as a business-critical investment in workforce resilience.
When employees can access early diagnosis and timely treatment, the benefits are clear:
- Shorter absence durations
- Reduced risk of conditions becoming complex or chronic
- Faster and more sustainable returns to work
This is also driving a greater focus on prevention. Employers are increasingly investing in:
- Health screening
- Early intervention services
- Wider wellbeing programmes
The rationale is straightforward – a relatively small investment in prevention can reduce the likelihood of more serious and costly health issues developing later, helping to manage both employee wellbeing and the sustainability of corporate PMI over time.
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A more preventative, joined-up approach will be key to managing both costs and outcomes
As demand for private healthcare continues to grow, employers face a balancing act. Providing access to treatment has become essential, but rising costs mean that simply expanding cover is unlikely to be sustainable in isolation.
A more joined-up approach is needed – one that combines treatment with prevention and early intervention.
In practice, this means integrating:
- Digital GP services
- Health screening
- Targeted wellbeing programmes
- Private medical insurance for businesses
This ensures employees are supported across the full health journey – not just when treatment is required. There is also a broader opportunity for government policy to support this shift.
As was made clear in the recent ‘Keep Britain Working’ report, encouraging workplace health interventions could help:
- Ease pressure on the NHS
- Support workforce participation
- Improve productivity at a national level
Ultimately, workforce health and economic performance are closely linked. When employees can access the care they need, when they need it, businesses are better able to operate effectively – and the wider economy benefits as a result.
Need advice on your employee health and wellbeing strategy?
Broadstone works with employers to design joined-up, data-led employee benefits strategies – combining corporate PMI, preventative health and wider wellbeing support to improve employee outcomes, strengthen engagement and deliver measurable return on investment.
