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Conflict of interests?
By Robin Stride Consultants’ business relationships with private hospitals are being questioned in a new report voicing concerns about the possible influences on patients’ treatment. The Centre for Health and the Public Interest (CHPI) think-tank claims those receiving fees for use of equipment they own in the independent sector is ‘problematic’ from the perspective of […]
Why hard work goes into doing nothing
Why a ‘set-and-forget’ investment approach is never just that. Dr Benjamin Holdsworth on the behind-the-scenes work your adviser should be doing. In most walks of life when you employ a professional or craftsman, you expect a little bit of action for your money. However, this generality does not always apply. Take the case of a […]
Private and NHS GP service barred on the same site
New guidance from NHS England poses ‘cliff-edge threat’ to some GP businesses. By a staff reporter. Private GPs’ hopes of launching their services in NHS GP practices have suffered a serious setback. Lawyers warn that new NHS England guidance on the GMS contract for GPs outlines a blanket ban on GPs advertising and hosting private […]
Make money, not white noise
The challenge for independent practitioners is how to make the best use of their data so that it becomes a valuable resource and not meaningless digital ‘white noise’. Information needs turning into your biggest asset, says Kingsley Hollis. We are now all so used to going online for answers that it is astonishing to think […]
Patients’ DIY justice
Keep it Legal: Litigants in person The additional challenges of defending a claim when the patient is not legally represented are explored here by Niloo Bozorgi. She hopes the courts may becoming a little less lenient towards such litigants A claim is always distressing to face and time-consuming to deal with. Your insurer or medical […]
‘B’ is for book-keeping
The building blocks of accountancy Susan Hutter continues with her A-Z of top tips to get the best out of your accountant. This week it’s the letter ‘B’. is for book-keeping There is a tendency for many consultants and GPs to put the record-keeping on the back burner and only deal with it later, either […]
Making safer devices
Not leaving the private healthcare sector to its own devices, the Independent Healthcare Providers Network has been giving evidence to the Government’s Medicines and Medical Devices Review. David Hare reports. The Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN) firmly believe that a ‘whole systems approach’, which fully incorporates the independent healthcare sector, is vital to improve patient safety. […]
Investments giving tax relief
Independent practitioners use various Government-supported schemes and incentives to get tax relief for investing their hard-earned cash. Ian Tongue gives a specialist medical accountant’s view. There are four commonly available venture capital schemes of special interest to many high-earning doctors. And that is in addition to tax-efficient savings schemes such as ISAs, familiar to most […]
Converted to this brutal convertible
‘Doctor on the Road’: BMW 8 Series convertible You only live once, so if you are highly successful and love quality then the all-new BMW 8 Series convertible will have you beaming, says Dr Tony Rimmer. If you are a successful independent practitioner and you like cars, then there are a few obvious candidates for the […]
You’ve nothing to fear in revealing your fees
Opinion By Prof Frank Chinegwundoh, consultant urological surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust and Harley Street, London. The Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) began publishing the fees of over 4,500 UK consultants on its website nearly four months ago. It was another important step towards increasing price transparency in the private healthcare sector. All consultants with […]
PPU recovery is the heart of the matter
Private patient services in the 13 NHS trusts delivering acute care across East Anglia come under Philip Housden’s spotlight this month. Figures from the 2017-18 published annual accounts for this group of trusts show that total private patient revenues grew by 5.9% from £25.3m to £26.8m over the previous year. This now represents 0.7% […]