Neurosurgeon/Plastic surgeon in private practice Salarys

I would like to know how much a neurosurgeon/plastic surgeon who works in a private practice 100% of the time earns on average. How much do they earn per surgical procedure on average in UK? I looked on the internet but I didn't find much about it, just about earnings on the NHS that are standardized.

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Can't imagine there is much scope for private work for neurosurgeons outside of spine surgery? I gather a lot of neurosurgery is otherwise emergency surgery so not really something private work has a market for as that would all go to the NHS hospitals where the ambulances are delivering the person with the brain hemorrhage or what have you...I'd also note that the UK has an oversupply of neurosurgeons so you have that much more competition to actually develop your private practice. Maybe some of the fancy radiosurgery done on brain tumours and stuff but for the amount that stuff costs I imagine anyone planning to have private surgery for that would just fly (or boat) themselves over to the US or something for it.

Otherwise for both what there is for neurosurgery (which is probably not one of the top potential earners for private work in terms of surgical specialties, as it seems the higher earning potential specialties are the ones with high volumes of short procedures, rather than low volumes of long procedures) and plastic surgery, it's likely to vary depending on your experience/seniority (I think having completed your CCT and having worked as a consultant for some years is going to be practically a necessity to start with from what I've heard), your region, and what subspecialty interests/areas you work in.

Also I gather in the UK it's very rare for consultants to completely leave the NHS and work privately 100% of the time. I gather it's much more typical for them to work out a consultant job plan which is part-time (or sometimes even full time but the times at which you work and the hours work out allow you time to do private work) and then do private work alongside that. This also gives them a market to tap into from the hospital they actually work at - any would be NHS patients that don't mind paying to "jump the queue" and get their elective procedures privately for example I'd guess (also just picking up the backlog of NHS work being outsourced privately, maybe). Plus, the NHS pension is probably a very good reason for them to maintain some amount of NHS work to keep that rolling along...

So I doubt you're really going to get a concrete number in any case for those reasons.

If @itsbrainsurgery is still around they might be able to comment more specifically on the neurosurgery stuff! :smile: