Plan to use private sector to cut NHS waiting lists
A new Government taskforce to look at how the NHS can turbo-charge its use of the independent sector to tackle the elective care backlog and cut waiting times has been welcomed by the private hospitals’ trade body.
David Hare, chief executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), said: ‘For decades, independent sector capacity has been used by the NHS to improve patients’ access to care, free at the point of use, and giving patients’ a legal right to choose an independent sector provider for their treatment was a big factor in getting NHS waiting times down in the 2000s.
‘The taskforce is a great opportunity to learn lessons from that period and in particular to make good on patients’ legal right to choose the best provider for them, whether public or independent sector, and to ensure that the capacity and capability which is available in the independent sector is being fully utilised for the benefit of NHS patients.’
Asked about the effect this could have on independent practitioners’ access to private hospitals, he told Independent Practitioner Today: ‘With ever-rising demand for private healthcare, independent providers and practitioners will continue its vital work in meeting the growing needs of private patients, while also continuing to support the NHS to clear the elective backlog and ensure genuine choice for patients.’
Rory Deighton, director of the NHS Confederation’s acute network, said health leaders also welcomed the setting up of what is being called the Elective Recovery Taskforce.
He said: ‘Leaders will be keen to support the taskforce and understand how independent sector capacity can be unlocked as soon as possible, learning from previous arrangements during the pandemic.
‘But genuine recovery will require holistic and sustained attention. In some parts of the country, the independent sector is staffed by those who also work in the NHS and so there is a danger that this extra capacity could be an illusion there.’