i would be choosing by the surgeon doing the operation rather than the hospital.

Chapel A and Nuffield is likely to be the same surgeon and possibly same team. Every one I know who had it done had it done at Chapel A with excellent results ( sample size 2 .)
My mum had her feet operated on one private one NHS she had the same surgeon for each op bit preferred the NHS care. Private she felt dumped in a very nice room and ignored NHS she was on a communal ward and interacted with.

she was on a communal ward and interacted with.

Sounds like the perfect reason to go for the private option to me. I wouldn’t want to be stuck in with other sick, coughing, spluttering patients talking crap to you all day and putting up with the comings and goings of their family. Yes, it would be great if you were in a ward with a bunch of people you might get on with and have a bit of fun with, but that is unlikely. Every time I’ve visited people in hospital they seem to be irked and annoyed by people in the neighbouring beds- talking crap all day, whinging and moaning to the staff, being rude, nicking their chocolates, snoring at night. A few days in a private room, decent telly, decent internet connection (probably), nice food sounds like just the ticket for a bit of R&R.

i would be choosing by the surgeon doing the operation rather than the hospital.

So would I but Ton has to consider his heart and if the private place doesn’t have the facilities/staff to restart him on the table if it all goes badly wrong. Our local Nuffield advertises it doesn’t have A&E facilities and may be one of those that has to blue light arrests in theatre to the local NHS place.

To my knowledge, no private hospital has A&E facilities. However, plenty of private hospitals have the ability to cope with complications during or after surgery.

Not suggesting that the particular Nuffield in question would be able to cope, but you can’t draw a conclusion on that from the absence of an A&E.

An NHS patient has a lot less choice over who performs the surgery, that’s one of the perks of opting for private. That same perk extends to patients who use the e-Referral system to go to a private hospital for NHS funded treatment. The vast majority of NHS funded treatments in Private facilities are reimbursed at (or below) the National Tariff which is freely available.

As I think someone pointed out, the NJR will tell you which hospital performs the most operations in quite a broad category. This may or may not be a good way of picking your hospital.