Ramsay Health Care is betting that more surgical patients will have to be treated in Britain’s private hospitals as the nation emerges from one of the developed world’s worst COVID-19 infection rates with care needs described as “frightening” by the chief of the health service.

Australia’s largest private hospitals operator said late on Thursday it had agreed to buy Spire Healthcare in a deal that values its London-listed rival at $3.71 billion including the debt on its balance sheet.