PHIN boss on drive to get doctors to display fees
The doctor boss of the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) says it aims to work more closely with consultants to inform them about the organisation and to get their feedback about how it can help and support them.
Dr Ian Gargan, its chief executive, told Independent Practitioner Today the plan was to boost the number of consultants featuring on its website, currently just over 9,000, to include all consultants in private practice before the middle of 2026.
He said PHIN was regularly writing to consultants who have either not supplied their fee information, or who have done so, but have not quite completed the process to allow the network to publish that information.
‘We have also recently been contacting consultants to let them know that the CMA is investigating enforcement action and we want to avoid them being on any escalation list,’ Dr Gargan said.
‘We encourage consultants to review the data that is submitted to PHIN from the private hospitals where they work. There are processes to approve data about the volume of procedures that they perform and the length of stay for those procedures.
‘Consultants can also notify hospitals if they want to review or raise a query about data that has been submitted to PHIN.’
In an exclusive interview, he said PHIN did not want to see anyone undergoing enforcement action and it was supporting consultants to ensure the process was as straightforward and painless as possible.
PHIN, which has mushroomed from six employees to 45 staff, has a dedicated consultant support team and doctors can also ask questions through the network’s consultant portal: https://portal.phin.org.uk.