NHS leaders have urged ministers not to allow a “two-tier” health system to emerge in Britain after research shows a huge rise in demand for private care amid record NHS waiting times. 

The poll by Ipsos found that a third of the 2,104 adults surveyed were either using private care or considering it within the next six months. 

While the number of people who paid for healthcare in 2021 jumped by 29 per cent compared with before the pandemic in 2019.