Across the 10 orthopaedic and joint surgery procedures we price at UK private hospitals, self-pay costs run from £1,690 to £19,599. Each figure below is the range across every hospital that publishes a price, so it shows both the cheapest route and how far the same operation varies by where it is done.
| Procedure | Hospitals priced | From | To | Median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joint Pain Treatment | 39 | £1,690 | £2,302 | £1,999 |
| Pain Management Injections for Back and Facet Joints | 23 | £1,931 | £3,351 | £2,239 |
| Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Surgery | 33 | £2,032 | £2,872 | £2,688 |
| Knee Arthroscopy Surgery | 45 | £4,118 | £5,655 | £4,598 |
| Shoulder Arthroscopy | 50 | £5,525 | £7,438 | £6,122 |
| Rotator Cuff Repair | 26 | £7,063 | £9,653 | £8,353 |
| Knee Ligament Surgery | 35 | £8,199 | £9,910 | £8,653 |
| Back Surgery | 77 | £8,995 | £14,586 | £10,530 |
| Hip Replacement Surgery | 38 | £14,704 | £19,230 | £16,224 |
| Knee Replacement | 43 | £14,706 | £19,599 | £16,520 |
Why orthopaedic and joint surgery prices vary this much
Orthopaedic work — joints, ligaments and the spine — is among the most common private surgery, largely because NHS waits for hip and knee replacements run long. Prices swing widely with the implant used, whether the technique is open or keyhole, and the length of stay the package assumes.
Read any row as a starting range, not a quote: the published figure is a package, and the initial consultation, diagnostics and a longer-than-assumed stay are usually billed on top. The per-procedure pages linked above show which hospital sits where in each range.
Would private health insurance pay for orthopaedic and joint surgery?
Not if you already have the problem. Cover is written for conditions that arise after it starts, so anything you already have symptoms of is a pre-existing condition and excluded — permanently under full medical underwriting, or until a symptom-free period has passed under a moratorium. Freedom Health Insurance names a five-year look-back; WPA adds a 14-day deferment on anything arising in the first fortnight.
Bought before symptoms, a policy is what turns £8,353 into a claim. Bought after, it will not. Get a free quote to see what cover would cost you, or read how UK cover compares and the FCA-authorised brokers.
Source: each range is built from the hospitals’ own published self-pay price lists, cited in full on the per-procedure pages above.