Private healthcare sector ready to work with new Government
The private healthcare sector is braced and ready to take on increasing numbers of NHS patients under the new Labour Government.
Following last week’s historic election result, the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN) indicated its member clinics and hospitals were committed to helping reduce record waiting lists.
David Hare
Its chief executive David Hare told Independent Practitioner Today: ‘We look forward to working with the new Government and helping them to deliver their manifesto commitment to make use of capacity in the independent sector and improve patients’ access to care – something which polling shows is wholeheartedly supported by the public.’
Before election day, he had welcomed the cross-party consensus on the important role he said independent providers have to play in improving NHS performance and ensuring its patients ‘receive the best possible service, all free at the point of use’.
Dr Ian Gargan
Responding to the result, Dr Ian Gargan, chief executive of the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN), said: ‘Health has been a key topic throughout the general election campaign for all parties and must remain a key focus in the immediate future and longer term.
‘We would be delighted to meet the new Health Secretary to help him, and his department, to better understand how the NHS and independent sector can complement each other with the patient at the centre of innovative advancement for optimum care.’
Specialist accountants also offered the new Government a helping hand to digest the implications for doctors of any complicated financial proposals.
Deborah Wood, chairman of the Association of Independent Specialist Medical Accountants (AISMA), said its door was ‘always open to Government departments looking for expertise on the finance and tax implications of policy developments’.
AISMA board member Andy Pow warned that although the new government had inherited significant financial pressures, it must resist the temptation to bring in major contractual change without fully understanding the wider tax and pension implications.
Dr Michael Devlin
Dr Michael Devlin, Medical Defence Union (MDU) head of professional standards, urged the new Government to ‘roll up its sleeves and deliver for healthcare professionals’.
‘That includes prioritising support for their health and well-being, making sure the way they are regulated is fair, proportionate and timely and ensuring every pound possible is spent on patient care, rather than supporting an outdated legal regime for clinical negligence claims.’