Spending by individuals in the UK on private healthcare has seen the first significant fall since the mid 1990s, figures show.

Analysts Laing and Buisson estimate that, in the last year, UK spending on non-cosmetic surgery, such as knee and hips, fell by nearly £30m to £345m.

The last significant downturn was in the recession of the early 1990s. Experts said it was probably due to the economic climate and the ever-shortening NHS waiting lists.

Our Analysis: This probably has more to do with the NHS cutting queues than the credit crunch, which had not really bitten last year. 

Of course, that means things could get a lot worse this year! But it highlights just how vulnerable the private patient market is in countries with national health care systems running alongside large private sectors, countries such as Spain, Greece and Finland.