When radio presenter Iain Dale was rushed to the emergency department of Tunbridge Wells Hospital in July, he was told he needed major surgery as soon as possible.
The 62-year-old man, who hosts the Evening Show on LBC Radio, had been suffering from severe pain in the right side of his abdomen for several days and had been feeling sick regularly.
Within minutes of being examined, a doctor diagnosed him with a perforated gallbladder and told him the pear-shaped organ would have to be removed as soon as an operating room was available.
The condition usually occurs when the opening to the gallbladder becomes blocked, leading to inflammation and swelling. If left untreated, it can lead to life-threatening infections.
Within minutes of being seen, a doctor diagnosed Iain Dale with a perforated gallbladder and told him the pear-shaped organ would need to be removed
For this reason, more than 60,000 NHS patients have their gallbladders removed each year.
“I stayed here for a night,” says Iain, who briefly gave up his role at LBC earlier this year to run for parliament, but abandoned his campaign three days later.
‘There was no bed available, so I had to lie in a deck chair the whole time.’
The next morning Iain was transferred to intensive care. From there he was expected to be taken to the operating room to have his gallbladder removed.
He was therefore shocked when a specialist told him a few hours later that the procedure would not go ahead after all.
‘He explained that the scans had shown that my gallbladder was very inflamed, which meant it was too dangerous to operate,’ says Iain. ‘I would have to take antibiotics for six weeks before I could have the procedure.’
The surprises didn’t stop there though. He was told that due to the record length of the NHS waiting list for surgery, he would not be able to have his gallbladder removed after the required six weeks had passed.
Instead, Iain would have to wait 18 weeks before his severely damaged gallbladder could be removed – meaning the procedure would not take place until December.
He says it was more than he could bear. ‘When I got out of hospital, my brain and body felt like they were running at 60 per cent of their capacity,’ Iain says. ‘I was constantly fumbling for words and just felt sluggish. I couldn’t do my radio show and I had to miss a gig I was doing at the Edinburgh Fringe festival.
“The doctors said that this disability would probably last until I had the surgery, and I knew I couldn’t wait that long. When you work in radio, you can’t afford to take 18 weeks off work. Your listeners are just going to go somewhere else. So I knew I had to do something.”
So Iain, like more and more people, decided to turn to private healthcare to avoid the ever-lengthening waiting times on the NHS.
According to official figures, there are currently more than 6 million people waiting for NHS treatment, with more than 300,000 waiting for over a year.
Since the Covid pandemic in 2020, the numbers have risen sharply and despite the government’s great efforts, they have only worsened over the past four years.
According to the Private Healthcare Information Network, the number of people choosing to pay for treatment has increased by almost 40 percent since 2021.
This means that last year almost 900,000 people switched to private insurance, with a record 73,000 choosing to pay for their treatment themselves rather than using health insurance.
Some experts warn that the cost of treatment could put lives at risk, with research showing that many private hospitals lack the facilities to provide emergency care.
Iain Dale, 62, hosts the Evening Show on LBC Radio
Yet for patients like Iain, it increasingly feels like the only option, short of living with pain or debilitating symptoms.
Since 2020, the Conservative government has tried a variety of schemes to reduce waiting lists. These have included pop-up ‘surgery hubs’, announced in 2022 by then Health Secretary Sajid Javid, where patients could have routine procedures such as cataracts and hip replacements carried out on the High Street or in a car park.
In November 2023, the Conservative government also announced an additional £800 million to tackle the crisis.
And then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to reduce waiting lists by 2024. But earlier this year he admitted he had failed to do so. The new Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, has also promised to tackle the problem. Mr Streeting has controversially said he will pay private clinics to treat NHS patients because they have “excess capacity”.
Julie Thallon, chair of the charity Patients Association, said she welcomed Labour’s commitment to tackling the waiting list but said the number of people going to private care was a serious concern.
“Many people don’t have the means to pay for private treatment,” she says. “We’re concerned that long waits could lead to patients’ health deteriorating, perhaps to the point where treatment becomes ineffective when they finally receive it.”
Iain Dale, who is due to undergo gallbladder surgery in the coming weeks, says he believes more patients should go to private clinics as this will free up NHS resources.
While gallbladder removal costs around £5,000, private health insurance for a patient in their 60s with no underlying health conditions would cost around £120 a month, according to insurance broker MediCompare.
‘By having my surgery done privately I am freeing up space for someone who cannot afford to pay for the surgery and I am also saving the NHS money,’ Iain said.
‘There is a stigma in this country about moving to a private company, but it seems increasingly logical to do so.’