Launch of London Specialist Hospitals Partnership
PPU Watch
Compiled by Philip Housden
Launch of London Specialist Hospitals (LSH)
The launch of the LSH will have a significant impact on the future shape and development of the London and perhaps the wider NHS private patient unit (PPU) sector, as the participants’ income is so significant in the regional and whole NHS context.
The estimated private patient incomes in 2022-23 from the specialist hospitals in the five member trusts was £305m – recognising that Royal Brompton and Harefield are part of Guy’s and St Thomas’.
This is a 71.4% majority share of the £427m total income reported by all London trusts and 47.2% of the £645.7m reported total private patient income of all England NHS trusts.
Annual NHS Private Patient Service Summit
Delegates from 25 NHS trusts and providers attended the NHS Private Patient Service Summit to share best practice, network and enjoy collegial working.
Attendees heard from a range of industry experts and took part in some useful breakout sessions.
Mark Riley-Pitt, director and head of healthcare risk consulting at business service company AON, warned of the need to ensure sufficient indemnity for NHS PPUs.
He also addressed the issue of reducing risk and the changing options that trusts have to work with consultants to ensure appropriate, affordable cover for private practice.
I had the privilege of chairing the conference again and opened with my annual update on NHS trusts’ private patient performance in 2022-23 and post-pandemic.
David Powell, of the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, south Wales, shared his experience of understanding nuances and spotting negotiation opportunities relating to contracts. These were interspersed by an interactive session on benchmarking NHS PPUs’ activity.
AXA, Bupa and Aviva private medical insurers took part in a panel question-and-answer session where trusts raised key concerns relating to the insurers’ relationship with the NHS and the challenges of achieving tariffs for the often-increased complexity of private cases that are managed within PPUs.
We also had directors of private care Marcus Taylor (Buckinghamshire Private Healthcare) and Andrew Robertson (Moorfields Eye Hospital) sharing personal case studies on the challenges they faced in 2023 and opportunities they were looking forward to developing in 2024.
I’m pleased to report that although the conference was held online again, organisers SBK Healthcare plan to return to a face-to-face event in 2024. The event was sponsored by Streets Heaver Healthcare Computing.
New eye care partnership between Moorfields Private and Cleveland Clinic London
Moorfields Private Eye Hospital has partnered with the Cleveland Clinic London to deliver ophthalmology services at 55 Moorgate, the latter’s new outpatient centre (see story page 4).
The collaboration is a first-ever partnership between Cleveland Clinic London and Moorfields Private Eye Hospital, two world-leaders in healthcare.
The partnership was launched with a rapid access and urgent care clinic offering same- and next-day appointments for adult patients experiencing urgent eye symptoms such as an unexplained sudden change in vision, trauma, suspected infection or eye discomfort such as dry eye, pain, redness or swelling.
Andrew Robertson, director of private care at Moorfields, said: ‘We are delighted to be a part of Cleveland Clinic London’s new development, which gives us the chance to offer our world-leading eye care to patients closer to where they work.’
Lindsey Condron, chief of operations for Cleveland Clinic London, added that the partnership would enable patients to have seamless access to world-class care in a state-of-the-art outpatient centre.
In 2022-23 Moorfields reported growth of £3.65m and 9.8%, with total private patient revenues of £40.8m; 15.4% of total trust income.
Moorfields Private reports that all financial surpluses generated in their partnership with Cleveland Clinic London will be reinvested into Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Philip Housden (right) is director of Housden Group commercial healthcare consultancy