The £5bn UK private healthcare market is facing investigation by the Competition Commission after a study found a number of potentially anti-competitive features.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) provisionally decided to refer the market for inquiry amid fears that competition is being prevented, restricted or distorted.
In a study published today it suggested that:

- There is a lack of easily-comparable information available to patients, GPs or health insurance providers on the quality and costs of private healthcare services

- The full costs of treatment may not always be transparent for private patients

- There are only a limited number of significant private healthcare providers and larger health insurance providers at a national level. Five providers - General Healthcare Group, Nuffield Health Hospitals, Ramsay Health Care UK, Spire Healthcare and HCA - between them account for more than three-quarters of the market, the OFT said

- In some local areas there are pockets of particularly high concentration, with private healthcare providers owning the only local hospital. Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, Exeter and Hull, for example, there is only one private hospital or healthcare facility

- There may be significant barriers to new competitors entering the market and being able to offer private patients greater choice

- Private healthcare providers also appear to be offering incentives such as loyalty payments to consultants for treating patients at a particular facility - a practice that the OFT said could raise those barriers further.

OFT chief executive John Fingleton said: "Our provisional findings suggest that private patients in the UK don't have access to easily-comparable information on quality and costs, and that competition is also restricted by barriers to new private healthcare providers entering and being able to offer private patients greater choice.

"It is important that patient demand and choice are able to drive competition and innovation in this market with a view to better value for all patients.

"We have provisionally decided that these significant concerns merit a more in-depth investigation by the Competition Commission."

The OFT will consult on the proposed market investigation and will decide by the end of March whether to make a referral to the Commission.

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