How private healthcare companies can acquire patients: three priority focuses
The NHS is facing some of the most severe pressures in its 75-year history and the BBC recently reported that so-called ‘hidden waiting lists’ are “terrifying patients”.
The current NHS waiting list stands at 7.6m according to the British Medical Association, but the BBC reports that the true scale could be much higher, as many hospitals don’t have robust systems for counting the number of patients waiting for ongoing treatment.
Against this backdrop, interest in private healthcare is increasing and one in four people have either used it or would consider doing so, fuelling many dramatic news headlines about the collapse of the NHS. However, as the Kings Fund reassures, this is less people “opting out of the NHS” as a whole and more people opting out of “part of the NHS for some aspects of their care” - namely, routine elective pathways for the diagnosis and treatment of common conditions.
The fact is, the private healthcare sector can undoubtedly help some patients but it is not as widely used as people might believe. The total number of admissions per quarter is only 9,000 - up by just 4%, according to figures from the Private Healthcare Information Network. Furthermore, self-pay admissions are actually slightly down, suggesting that there are still some significant barriers to patients seeking a private healthcare solution.
So how can private healthcare companies effectively and profitably attract the patients it can help?
Why patients might choose to go private
Last year, 13% of people used private healthcare, with a third of them (33%) doing so for the first time ever and half of them (48%) saying they typically use the NHS, according to YouGov polling.
By far the most common reason for going private was to be seen more quickly (53%), with better service the next most common factor (15%).
Wes Streeting put it well this week when he told the Financial Times that: “There are people who would, today, have new hips, clear eyesight, or reconstructed knees, if only the government had used the full spare capacity in the private sector to treat them faster.”
With this comment, Streeting may have been referring to his vision for the NHS utilising the private sector more fully - rather than, for example, growth of Private Medical Insurance or Self Pay - however, the clarity with which he expresses the benefits of faster treatment to the individual patient is admirable.
Showing people what’s in it for them is perhaps the most important component of motivating them to take a particular action, as per the COM-B behaviour change framework. Certainly speed of treatment looks like a powerful driver, but there is still something holding people back from accessing private healthcare.
An example of motivating ‘what’s in it for me’ messaging in action was seen when we at Evergreen PR needed to get 1,000 people with tinnitus to sign up to share their personal health data for a proposed Tinnitus Biobank, as part of a campaign for the health charity Tinnitus UK.
Of course, we had to help people to understand what a biobank is and how it would work in order to overcome fears and reasons for inertia. However, to really initiate action, we needed to bring to life what this biobank would enable. Our interviews with tinnitus research experts provided an inspiring and credible explanation of the kinds of research that would be possible, once this facility was established. We needed to explain this complex subject in a simple, accessible format that would trigger the right reaction, so those messages also appeared in our animated explainer video.
🎯 We hit that 1,000 target by 3pm on day 1 and by the end of the week an incredible 3,500 people had signed up.
So what do you need to know to attract new patients and revenue
As the old marketing phrase goes, the key to success is to get the right message to the right audience at the right time in the right place.
I think there are three priority questions that you need to focus your effort on answering.
What are the barriers to going private?
Research by the Independent Healthcare Providers Network suggests that the biggest barrier to using private healthcare is a worry that it could undermine the NHS, with 68.8% of people saying this concerns them.
This suggests that there is an emotional attachment to the NHS that could mean some people don’t access the healthcare they need because they feel loyal to the health service - even though 73% of people who have used private healthcare feel positively about the sector.
However, a report by The Health Foundation concluded that the independent sector is showing that it can contribute to addressing the elective care backlog in some areas of treatment and, while the impact could be limited, it is nevertheless contributing.
This is a delicate area and no private healthcare provider should risk being painted as opportunistic by creating a campaign suggesting that people who go private are helping to reduce the pressure on the NHS. Now is not the time for a ‘your NHS needs you (to go private)’ campaign! However, inspiring people to do what’s right for themselves, by helping them see what life could be like if they were to go ahead and access the treatment they need, could benefit both them and the health service.
When we supported UK physio provider, Ascenti, to acquire patients for their newly launched Virtual Physiotherapy service, we worked with a series of patient case studies to bring to life how, if they had followed the traditional route, they would have had to wait for an appointment, take time off work and travel to a clinic just to be told the same thing as they could get from a virtual appointment from their home.
That service has been incredibly successful and is utilised across self-pay and through PMI partnerships with the likes of Vitality. 🎯
2. Who are the priority audiences?
While 18-24 year olds are the most likely to have used private healthcare (Independent Healthcare Providers Network), this will have typically have been just an appointment with a private GP.
Given that long waits for treatment are known to worsen patient outcomes and increase pressure on healthcare professionals, private healthcare providers can make the biggest difference to people’s lives when they deliver potentially life changing treatments such as hip or knee replacements. Of course, these treatments are far more common in the over 65s (the group that is second most likely to have used private healthcare).
The big challenge with this, is that over 65s are also the age group with the most emotional attachment to the NHS - as our own yet-to-be-released data confirms (watch this space!).
Our proprietary data shows that older age groups are also particularly influenced by healthcare professionals and so there might be some benefits to educating clinicians, as well as health insurers and would-be patients.
3. What are the priority messages?
The Office of National Statistics reports that the NHS is our most trusted institution. I would call it our ‘most loved’ institution, which means that private healthcare companies do have to be careful when it comes to their messaging.
The rational messages are simple enough, as people state clearly that they value private healthcare for the speed of treatment and for its clinical excellence. However, if private healthcare is to overcome the emotional barriers presented by the NHS, in order to acquire the patients who most need it, then it must create an emotional response to its own offering.
One way to do that could be by leaning into existing emotional connections that people have with their family, friends or hobbies and using creativity to show how reduced waiting time will benefit the individual and those round them in a way that makes them stop and think. Take a look at how our creative treatment for the Personalised Care Institute persuaded healthcare professionals to ‘stop and think’ about whether they should be taking a different approach to conversations with patients whose health could be affected by money worries.
The specific execution and messaging of any private healthcare campaign would vary, based on the organisation and its various services and priorities but, by understanding the barriers, honing in on priority audiences and creating messages that appeal to rational and emotional drivers, private healthcare companies can increase the number of patients they acquire in an effective and efficient way, to ultimately help more people.
Would you like to find out more about how we can help your private healthcare company to acquire more patients and increase its revenue? Book a free Consultation by emailing me leigh@evergreenpr.co.uk.
Leigh Greenwood Chart.PR is the founder and managing director of Evergreen PR, the healthcare PR agency that drives tangible outcomes.