NHS surgeons' private fees are highest in world

NHS consultants carrying out operations in the private sector charge the highest fees in the world, according to a new study.

Research comparing the earnings of UK surgeons with their overseas counterparts reveals that those working in this country receive fees per operation which are 22 to 59 per cent higher than the average in the US, Australia, Germany, Canada and Spain.

For many common procedures, fees charged by UK surgeons are three to four times higher than those in the country with the lowest payment rate.

The findings are likely to be particularly sensitive for the Government as they come at a time when the NHS has been paying surgeons private sector rates for over 80, 000 extra operations a year in a bid to cut waiting lists.

Health department officials have admitted that the NHS, when buying from the private sector, has been paying up to 40 per cent above the NHS cost for the same procedure.

According to the study, carried out by the independent consultancy Nat ional Economic Research Associates (Nera), NHS surgeons who also operate in the private sector can potentially earn around £50, 000 a year for one day a week's work.

Surgeons in this country were paid 22 per cent more than the average for surgeons in other countries for hip replacements, 35 per cent more for hysterectomies, haemorrhoids and hernias, and 55 to 59 per cent more for a by-pass graft, cataract and tonsil removal.

The study was commissioned jointly by Norwich Union Healthcare and the Financial Times.