About a third of Scots have accessed private health care for someone in their household, new survey finds

In a speech to the BMA’s 2025 Annual Representative Meeting in Liverpool, the chair of BMA Scotland will say it is “abundantly clear” that there is now a divide in Scotland between those who can afford private healthcare and those “languishing” on NHS waiting lists, as a survey has found that almost a third of Scots (29%) say they or someone else from their household have had to use private care in the past two years.

He will warn that the situation is likely to only get worse, as 43% of respondents to the survey said they are now more likely to go private.

The nationally representative survey, carried out by Diffley Partnership on behalf of BMA Scotland, found:

• 17% of respondents had accessed private medical care in the past two years and 14% said a member of their household had.
• 64% of those who reported accessing private care for themselves or a member of their household said it was because the NHS waiting list was too long.
• Of those that accessed private care, 45% used personal savings and 20% said they had to cut back on leisure activities. Another 9% had to cut back on essential items such as energy and groceries, while 9% had to borrow money to fund private treatment.
• 46% of respondents who did not use private care in the past two years said it was because they could not afford to.
• 43% said their likelihood of using private healthcare had significantly or somewhat increased in the past few years.
• 63% reported that their confidence in being able to access a timely hospital appointment through the NHS had significantly or somewhat decreased in the past few years, while 60% said the same for GP appointments.

The survey was designed by Diffley Partnership and results are based on a survey of 1203 respondents. Fieldwork was conducted between 30th May – 4th June 2025, with results weighted to the 16+ Scottish population estimates (2023) by age and gender.