Private sector bid to run more diagnostic centres
The private healthcare sector has launched a major bid to be given the all-clear to boost the number of NHS Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs).
A rapid diagnostic unit at The London Clinic
It claims extending patient choice to NHS diagnostics hubs across England could save the public purse millions of pounds to spend on other priority initiatives.
Independent providers originally expected to play a key role in delivering the initial tranche of CDCs as a way of rapidly expanding testing and imaging capacity.
But according to a new report from the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), only 7% of the new community hubs are run by the private sector.
It found that if one-third of all current CDCs had been independent sector-led, then capital spend would have dropped by around £500m.
Private providers argue that extending patient choice to diagnostics and using contracting models such as Any Qualified Provider (AQP) – currently used in NHS elective care – would make it easier for local areas to utilise independent sector capacity. Bids for new CDCs are currently signed off centrally.
IHPN chief executive David Hare said: ‘CDCs have the potential to revolutionise the way patients can access the tests and scans they need – providing swift, modern, facilities in the heart of their local community – and already, we are seeing the fruits of this work, with overall diagnostics activity having increased in the last few years.
‘However, with waiting times for patients continuing to be at record levels, it’s vital that lessons are learned as the NHS looks to expand the provision of these hubs, including through making better use of independent healthcare providers who have long played a key role in delivering accessible, high-quality NHS diagnostic services.’
Additional capacity
He added that by opening up patient choice to CDCs, and enabling new independent sector facilities to be established for the benefit of NHS patients, significant new additional diagnostics capacity would be created without the need for additional public capital spending.
With the NHS looking to implement phase two of its CDC programme, the IHPN is recommending:
- A launch with ambitious targets for rapidly increasing the number of new centres available to patients, based in the community and away from acute sites.
- CDCs should be measured with a new transparent set of metrics, including setting ambitious benchmarks for productivity within CDCs, such as extending the operating times of scanners. Where those benchmarks are consistently not being met, new providers should be enabled to come in and operate those sites.
- The independent sector should be a key partner to deliver the programme, particularly in the provision of capital investment to fund a new wave of CDCs, supported by long contracts with NHS Integrated Care Boards.
Independent providers also want assurances that new hubs will be in the community rather than on hospital sites. Only a handful are located on high streets and other local places as originally intended, they say.
The IHPN wants to see more information published on CDC waiting times and activity and patient satisfaction to ensure the programme is meeting its objectives to improve patient access to vital testing and imaging services.
It is calling for more transparency about CDC productivity – and for new providers to be able to come in and operate at those sites where productivity levels are consistently low.