Uniting to crack the pandemic
David Furness says the new deal between NHS England and the private healthcare sector ensures that private treatment can continue, but provides a sensible insurance policy in case pressures on the NHS prove unsustainable.
2022 marks the third year that the UK will be dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. And the past few months alone has proved Covid still has plenty of twists and turns to offer us.
Indeed, the Omicron variant detected in early December has led to a stratospheric number of Covid cases being confirmed.
While, thankfully, the virus appears milder than previous incarnations, hospitals across the country are – as I write – seeing huge rises in admissions with real pressure on the healthcare system to deal with both Covid cases and the growing backlog of care caused by the pandemic.
This fast-moving situation led to new calls for independent sector support for the NHS and, at the request of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, ten independent hospital provider groups signed up in January to a new deal to support the NHS this winter as Independent Practitioner Today reported on 11 January.
But what does this deal mean for independent healthcare practitioners and the delivery of private treatment?
Clearing the backlog
With the Omicron variant running rampant through much of the country and having a significant impact on both services and staffing, the Department of Health and Social Care was keen to ensure the health system could access the high-quality, green pathway sites that the independent sector provides and ensure the services could continue as much as is possible.
As a result, ten independent acute providers groups have agreed to a short-term partnership to enable it to deliver a wider range of treatments – including vital cancer care – to the NHS from January this year until the end of March, which will help the NHS to focus on growing numbers of Covid patients.
Continuity rather than change is a key principle of this new contract though, with independent providers primarily being used by the NHS to continue its work of the last year in clearing the elective backlog.
This is an important role, given that the latest NHS performance figures show waiting lists have now reached six million.
And at the same time, treatment delivered to private patients will continue as usual in the coming months under the new arrangement, with providers able to meet the needs of the growing numbers of people who are now choosing to pay privately for their care given the pressures on the health system.
Learning lessons
Learning lessons from the previous NHS/independent hospital partnerships during Covid, this new agreement will also focus on ensuring the NHS can make best use of the independent sector with capacity targeted in areas where it is needed most.
Therefore, in areas facing the most extreme Covid pressures, the new arrangement enables local systems to access the staff, beds and equipment of local independent providers.
Providers and independent practitioners should, however, be reassured that this will only be in the very specific circumstances and used as an absolute last resort in the event that a local NHS system faced unsustainable levels of hospitalisations or staff absences – something all systems and partners will be looking to avoid.
Moreover, in the – hopefully extremely rare – circumstances where a ‘surge’ is triggered by the NHS, urgent private treatment, including cancer care, will still continue.
And even in areas where ‘surge’ is triggered, this will simply prompt a conversation between NHS England, local regions and independent sector providers about how to best deal with the local situation and not necessarily lead to a blanket suspension of routine private treatment.
Targeted response
The pandemic has caused huge upheavals in the delivery of healthcare in England since 2020 and we, of course, recognise the frustrations of many of those working in the system of yet more changes due to the Omicron virus.
But, as I write, with early signs that the variant is now peaking in many areas of the country, this latest deal with the NHS provides a measured and targeted response to Omicron.
It ensures that private treatment can continue, with the sector providing a sensible insurance policy in case the pressures on the NHS prove unsustainable.
There is no doubt that these few months will be tough for all healthcare providers and practitioners.
But, from all of us at IHPN, we want to thank all independent practitioners on the front line in the sector who are working so hard to deliver the best possible care to millions of patients in the most challenging of circumstances.
David Furness (right) is director of policy at the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN)
