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A cure for errors?
Doctor expert witnesses and patients are hugely frustrated with the current costly and over-long procedures in alleged negligence cases. Private ...
Budget’s tax freeze on health cover is hailed
By Robin Stride The private healthcare industry sighed with relief after its strong pre-Budget lobbying helped stave off a further rise in insurance premium tax on medical cover. Now it will step up its campaign to get the Government to consider the wider implications of generating revenue from taxing health insurance – and to commit […]
High-tech business investing in itself
With The London Clinic being a charity, we asked its chief executive Al Russell (right) where all the money goes. During my first year as chief executive of The London Clinic, it has surprised me how few people realise we are a charity. Charitable status has been fundamental to who we are as a hospital […]
A-Z of getting the money in
Invoicing and collecting the money pose huge problems for many doctors building their practices and they are often owed many thousands of pounds before they ask for help. Findlay Fyfe presents an A-Z of billing to guide you to success. A is for audit trail. Do you have a clear policy for communication and interaction […]
Take gripes seriously
A shocking 80% of complaints in the private healthcare sector are about bad handling of patient concerns, we revealed last month. Sally Taber, of the Independent Healthcare Sector Complaints Adjudication Service (ISCAS), discusses improving systems and processes to support good handling of complaints. Good complaints management is an integral part of good governance and quality […]
How the NHS was organised
So how did we get here? Independent Practitioner Today looks back on the history of the National Health Service in the second of a series adapted from a new book by Dr Ellen Welch. The NHS was planned as a three-tier service, with the Minister of Health overseeing it at the top, and three tiers […]
A mixed bag – but still an opportunity
In our latest tour of NHS private patient units (PPUs), Philip Housden analyses private patient revenue growth for 13 NHS acute trusts across the county of Yorkshire. For this group of trusts, the accounts show that total private patient revenues increased in 2017-18 after a period of stagnation.* Total revenues are estimated at £14.5m […]
Answers to difficult financial questions
In this month’s column, Susan Hutter (right) responds to more of the most frequent questions she has been receiving lately from private doctors. Q I have just received an email from HM Revenue and Customs about a refund. What should I do? Sorry to say this, but this is a scam. HM Revenue and Customs […]
Things are looking up
‘Doctor on the Road': VW Up! If you are looking for a new small car that is great around town but practical and fun, then this VW ticks all the boxes and provides the perfect antidote to the hard work of running a busy medical practice, says Dr Tony Rimmer. Sometimes, returning to basics can […]
Our data journey must begin with a first step
Opinion. There may be problems with healthcare data… but it is the future, says Prof Antony Narula. As doctors know, there are inherent issues with many healthcare data schemes. The difficulty is, when there are high-profile cases of poor care, there is a tendency to over-legislate. In trying to legislate for individual cases, you can […]
If they get too friendly
‘Business Dilemmas’ Dr Beverley Ward explains how to respond to inappropriate advances from a patient Dilemma 1 How can I stop her pestering? QI am a consultant who has recently treated a patient for an ankle injury. After this, I started to receive several inappropriate messages, via social media, inviting me […]
The Chancellor has been good to private doctors
The Budget was favourable for most independent practitioners, writes Susan Hutter. Personal allowances and higher-rate tax bracket The Chancellor, after saying he had frozen personal allowances and the higher-rate tax threshold, decided to raise them from 6 April 2019. Personal allowances: from £11,850 to £12,500; Higher-rate tax threshold: from £46,350 to £50,000. Most doctors have […]