Trends in Healthcare: Analysing PHIN's Quarterly Report

Understanding trends within the healthcare industry is vital. So, what does the Private Healthcare Information Network’s (PHIN) latest reports tell us about Private Healthcare?

4 minute read

Healthcare is constantly evolving, which makes it crucial to identify any patterns and trends that we may observe. By doing so, we can gain valuable insights into what the future of healthcare may hold.

The Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) is an independent government-run healthcare data analytics company that provides quarterly performance metrics, information on hospital fees, and private consultants. Let’s delve deeper into this quarter’s PHIN metrics to see what we can find on private healthcare facility usage.

A snapshot of the quarterly report

Numbers can tell us a lot, so what does PHIN’s report tell us about the usage of private healthcare facilities?

There has been a significant increase in the use of private healthcare facilities compared to last year when there were 227,000 admissions. This year saw an additional 17,000 more admissions to private healthcare. This is the highest number of private admissions recorded by PHIN since they first began collecting data, which shows us that more and more individuals are opting for private healthcare services instead of relying on the NHS.

Does the data show any annual trends?

To truly understand the trends, we have to compare the current figures with historical data. If we look at the data year by year, we can see an interesting trend emerging.

On average, from last year, there has been a 7% increase in private healthcare usage. The data shows an increase of almost equivalent growth rates each year in the number of people turning to private healthcare. This indicates a consistent growth in this sector of people opting for private healthcare over getting seen by the NHS.

Spotting trends in the sea of data

As well as the number of people using healthcare increasing, this data also shows us much more.

There seems to be an increase in the need for specialised healthcare services within private facilities. There has been an increase in roughly 20% of people wanting specialised treatments such as cardiac and orthopedic surgeries. Of this, the largest increase was in, ‘Diagnostic Colonoscopy – bowel’. The ‘Therapeutics – Chemotherapy’ category showed the biggest decrease. These results show us the need for personalised medical healthcare. This quarter has also seen the highest number of consultants in over three years at 9,000.

Patient demographics and trends

Patient demographics show us more women have been admitted to private healthcare compared to men this quarter. Both have shown a decrease in self-paid admissions, but an increase in insured admissions this quarter compared to last year.

However, the number of insured admissions increased across England (13%) and Scotland (23%), but decreased in Northern Ireland (6%) and Wales (1%). Geographical data also shows a slight increase in the use of private healthcare across all regions, with the biggest increases in self-pay admissions coming from Wales (+18%) and Northern Ireland (22%).

What does PHIN’s quarterly findings mean for the healthcare ecosystem?

What do these findings mean in the broader healthcare ecosystem sense?

Whilst the increase in the use of private healthcare facilities can be seen as positive, there is also another side to it. Private healthcare facilities will receive a boost in funding which could potentially lead to the investment into research, and medical technologies advancing healthcare.

However, the increase in the demand for private healthcare raises the question of whether or not current resources are strained. Would private healthcare facilities be equipped to handle an influx of patients efficiently?

The healthcare evolution

As the landscape of healthcare naturally changes, we can use data from PHIN’s quarterly report to help us analyse important trends and shifts in the usage of private healthcare facilities. It’s important to understand the needs of a growing population will keep evolving. Whether it be accommodating more specialist treatments, or for more inclusive healthcare services, we will have to evolve with it.