Keep NHS and private sector in the loop

Data transparency is transforming the consultant’s environment in private healthcare – but more still needs to be done, says David Hare.

Transparency is rightly viewed as one of the most powerful drivers in improving the quality of healthcare. It is key to ensuring patients can make the right choices for them. 

The independent sector has been making great strides in this area in the last few years and particularly in the light of the case of rogue surgeon Ian Paterson, 

There is growing acknowledgment that, with both patients and doctors moving between NHS and independent providers, a single source of data across the two sectors is needed.

For example, a significant challenge to the effective operation of the whole-practice appraisal process is that no single dataset or repository of a consultant’s whole clinical practice exists across the NHS and independent sector.