Bupa's bottom line was bolstered by income from its elderly care home arm and growing demand for private healthcare in the first half, driving significant profit growth. 

The health, insurance and nursing home business saw its underlying group pre-tax profit rise 41 per cent to £480million over the first six months of the year, as revenues jumped 11 per cent to £8.8billion. 

It came as occupancy across its aged care arm climbed to 94 per cent globally, up 1 percentage point on a year ago. 

In Britain higher revenue was propelled by higher premiums 'driven by rate changes in response to higher claims', Bupa said.  

Across Britain, private healthcare is booming as millions of patients battle with long NHS waiting lists and struggle to access the right care or treatment they need. 

The firm's UK insurance arm delivered 'strong growth' in revenue for the period. 

Bupa's British insurance arm saw more than 149,000 net new customers sign up to either its medical insurance, health trusts, dental insurance and cash plan in the first half of 2025.    

The group said on Thursday: 'Higher premiums also contributed to the revenue growth driven by rate changes in response to higher claims. 

'Underlying profit reduced, driven by a higher loss ratio, increased acquisition costs and additional investment to facilitate further growth.' 

Across Bupa's Global, India and UK operations, underlying profit rose by 89 per cent to £126million, driven by revenue growth, improved margins in provision and aged care. 

In Britain, the private healthcare business agreed terms to acquire the New Victoria Hospital in Surrey. The deal marks the group's first hospital acquisition in Britain since 2008. The acquisition is due to complete this summer. 

The business said its net cash stash generated from operating activities remained 'strong' at £869million, against £676million a year ago.

Globally, Bupa's digital healthcare offering, Blua, now has 8.1million customers, the company said. 

Boss Iñaki Ereño added: 'We have served more customers than ever before, we have scaled Blua, our digital healthcare solution, and we have opened 61 new health provision sites around the world, giving our customers even more choice and convenience when it comes to accessing our healthcare services.

'We are building on the strong foundations that we have developed over the past four years. Bupa's new 3x100 Strategy is helping us to go further and faster to deliver our purpose and our ambition for Bupa to be the most customer-centric healthcare company in the world.'

Until the end of September, Bupa UK is offering a free mini health check to individuals and couples who take out a new health insurance policy with the group. 

As part of the initiative, Bupa Health Clinics will provide the mini health check which gives an evidence-based snapshot of a person’s health through a blood test covering a range of health markers such as lipid profiles and kidney, liver and thyroid function.

If any abnormalities are discovered, customers will be offered a 15-minute consultation with a Bupa clinician to discuss their results and receive guidance on next steps. Policy terms apply and results will not affect underwriting.

Customers can use their new Bupa health insurance policy to access further diagnostics, treatment or specialist care as needed, depending on the type of cover they have chosen.

According to data from private healthcare analysts LaingBuisson earlier this year, the number of people covered by a private medical insurance policy in Britain hit a record high of 4.68million at the end of 2023. 

The data suggested the surge in the use of private healthcare meant the total value of all medical and dental cover reached a record £7.59billion by the end of 2023, up from £6.76billion the previous year.