More than half of Brits using private healthcare say they decided not to use the NHS because of the length of the wait, according to statistics from the Liberal Democrats.
A poll commissioned by the party also found that one in seven people in the UK decided to turn to private medical care in the past year.
Among their reasons for doing so were the lack of availability in NHS treatments and the difference in quality of care.
But 54% of people cited the extent of the wait times as the main reason why they or a member of their family went private.
The poll asked 2,226 UK adults whether they or a family member had paid for private medical care in the past 12 months, and asked those who said they had what their reasons were.
Just under half (49%) said they decided not to use the NHS because the care and/or facilities were better in the private sector.
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And the 15% figure for people who had used private healthcare themselves in the past year rose to 24% specifically for young adults aged between 18 and 34.
Lib Dem health spokesperson and deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the Conservatives had left the NHS in a ‘state of constant crisis, with waiting times out of control and hospitals crumbling’.
She added: ‘People shouldn’t need to fork out for private medical care because NHS waiting lists are too long. This is another hammer blow in the middle of a cost of living crisis.
‘Our NHS desperately needs a rescue plan to bring down waiting lists, including investment in community care.
‘Hardworking families should not pick up the tab for Conservative neglect of our health services.
‘It is only right that billionaires and big banks pay their fair share to save our NHS.’
The Liberal Democrat manifesto calls for free personal care for all, which would be paid for through ‘fair taxes, such as reversing the Conservatives’ tax cuts for big banks’.
Labour’s manifesto, meanwhile, pledges to return to meeting NHS performance standards, meaning ‘patients should expect to wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral for consultant-led treatment of non-urgent health conditions’.
Keir Starmer’s party has also promised to deliver 40,000 more appointments every week by incentivising staff to do more work out of hours.
The Conservatives have pledged to bring 92,000 more nurses and 28,000 more doctors into the NHS by the end of the next Parliament if they are elected, with improvements to waiting times for primary, elective, cancer and emergency care.
Metro has contacted the Conservative Party and Labour for comment.
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