Paying privately: what the price covers

Usually included

• Surgeon and anaesthetist fees
• Hospital stay, nursing and medication
• Pre-assessment tests
• A standard implant or lens
• Follow-up appointments, often physiotherapy

Often extra

• The first consultation, about £150 to £280
• Scans and tests before surgery
• A premium lens or implant
• Sedation, scan contrast or tissue tests

Ask for a quote

1. Is this a fixed package price, in writing?
2. What aftercare is included, and for how long?
3. Who pays if there are complications?
4. Can I pay in instalments, and at what interest?

Check your cover

Health insurance through your employer may pay for treatment. A health cash plan may pay back part of a consultation or scan.

How we work it out

• Price ranges: the 10th to 90th percentile of providers' own published self-pay prices in England, rounded. Typical is the middle price.
• Private waits: what private hospitals say about their own waits. Claims, not measured.
• Weeks saved: the NHS wait shown (most people have waited less than it) minus 8 weeks, the high end of those claims. Shown when that wait is over 18 weeks and the result is 1 week or more.
• Freshness: we recheck every 6 months and hide any range over 9 months old.