Patients demand more data sharing

By Douglas Shepherd

Greater transparency about the safety of private hospitals is needed urgently, according to patients’ representatives.

But the Private Patients Forum (PPF) questions whether this would be enough to keep patients safe.

The PPF was reacting to the Royal College of Surgeons of England’s (RCS) list of demands for sharing data between the private and public health services (see ‘Tougher controls loom’).

The RCS’s demands follow the jailing of surgeon Ian Paterson who performed needless breast operations on scores of NHS and private patients. He is now serving a 20-year prison sentence.