Guide
Private cataract surgery cost: what UK providers publish
Updated
Some UK providers publish a price for cataract surgery and some quote only after a consultation. Below are the ones that publish, exactly as they publish them.
The published figures, side by side
| Provider | Lens and basis | Published price |
|---|---|---|
| Practice Plus Group | Standard monofocal lens, per eye, fixed price | £2,099 |
| Practice Plus Group | Enhanced monofocal lens, per eye, fixed price | £2,249 |
| Practice Plus Group | Full visual multifocal lens, per eye, fixed price | £2,949 |
| Benenden Hospital | Standard monofocal lens, per eye, guide price | From £2,866 |
| Benenden Hospital | Multifocal lens, per eye, guide price | From £4,674 |
| Spire Bushey Hospital | Cataract removal surgery, per eye, from price | From £3,220 |
Sources, all read on 15 August 2026: the Practice Plus Group price list, Benenden Hospital self-pay prices and the Spire Bushey Hospital cataract page. These three are here because they publish figures publicly. Other hospitals price the same operation differently, and several quote only after you have been seen.
The words on the price matter
- Fixed price
- Practice Plus Group states that the quote it gives is the amount you pay, including prescriptions, aftercare, equipment and any complications that arise. It also states that diagnostic tests needed as a result of your initial consultation are charged separately.
- Guide price
- Benenden Hospital defines a guide price as an estimated amount based on the information it has at the time of enquiry, and says plainly that it is not a fixed or guaranteed price but an indication of the minimum cost you may incur.
- From price
- Spire publishes a treatment price and a larger total package price, and notes that the figure shown is the minimum cost of the procedure and can increase depending on your choice of consultant, the anaesthetic, the implant and your medical history. Spire also notes that consultant and anaesthetist fees are set independently.
What normally sits outside the surgery price
- The first consultation. Practice Plus Group publishes £145, Benenden publishes £113 for a cataract or glaucoma consultation on a limited offer. Spire's package price folds a consultation in and is published separately from the treatment price.
- Scans and tests that follow the consultation. Practice Plus Group states these carry a charge of their own.
- The second eye. Prices are published per eye unless the provider names a bilateral figure, as Practice Plus Group does at £3,149.
- Glasses afterwards. The NHS notes that you may still need glasses for reading or distance after surgery, and that your prescription may change.
Questions worth putting to any provider
- Ask whether the number you have been given is fixed or a 'from' price, and what would change it.
- Ask which lens the price assumes, then ask what the same operation costs with each of the other lenses they offer.
- Ask what follow-up is included and for how long, and who you contact if something is not right after the operation.
- Ask whether the consultant's and anaesthetist's fees are inside the number or billed separately.
We are not a clinic and this page prices a procedure rather than advising on one. Whether to have cataract surgery, and which lens is right for your eyes, are questions for your optometrist, your GP or a consultant ophthalmologist. The NHS route is set out separately.