Use private units to treat NHS patients, says sector’s chief

It has been three years since the NHS last met its target to treat 92% of elective patients within 18 weeks, according to NHS England’s latest performance figures.

And that means more patients waiting in pain for vital treatment such as hip replacements and cataracts, according to the boss of the representative body for independent sector healthcare providers.

David Hare, chief executive of the Independent Healthcare Prov­iders Network, said the figures represented ‘a worrying decline in the access to NHS care that the public have a legal right to expect under the NHS constitution’.