By Rachel Williams The regulation of private hospitals is set to be tightened in a move which some h...
By Rachel Williams
The regulation of private hospitals is set to be tightened in a move which some health insurers argue could lead to tougher rules than those applied to the NHS.
Following an inquiry into the suitability of the regulation of private and independent healthcare, the House of Commons Health Committee has recommended the creation of an independent regulatory body, having found the current regulation, "inadequate for the task of protecting the public".
The proposed regulatory body would report to the Government with the aim of identifying appropriate standards and relevant activity in the private healthcare sector and provide nationwide regulation. The committee suggested that the regulatory body should operate on a regional basis, sharing a common resources centre, but each with a regional commission for care standards. It said this should help create a flexible inspection regime and co-ordinate the training given to inspection staff. But health insurers are concerned that the new regulator could lead to tougher regulation of the private market compared with the NHS.
Philip Fowles, sales and marketing director at BCWA, said: "What is particularly worrying is that by regulating the two separately, the private sector could suffer from more stringent measures. It is more sensible for everyone whether they are treated by the NHS or privately that all hospitals be governed by the same set of criteria."
Dr Adrian Bull, medical director at PPP healthcare, said: "Essentially, we believe the provision of healthcare should have a common set of standards through which they should be regulated. The majority of consultants in the private sector work in NHS hospitals as well. To regulate part of the practice in one way and one part in another way is not appropriate."
Recently the Government has been accused of massaging waiting list figures and Fowles
is concerned this could cross over into private healthcare regulation.
He said: "If this sort of fudging of issues is allowed to creep into regulation, it would be hugely worrying for the provision of healthcare. What we have is a situation where the Health Secretary is worried about the state of public healthcare and is trying to deflect flak from the NHS. The Government has enough problems with the NHS without attacking private healthcare."
Fowles said he has also been disappointed by Health Secretary Frank Dobson's refusal to speak with the private sector: "He has not spoken directly to any insurers and has left it to his juniors. He has made statements in the national press clobbering private healthcare without having the courtesy to meet us."
Further industry concerns also stem from the committee's recommendation that acute hospital care regulation should run alongside regulation of long term care in nursing homes. At present private hospitals are regulated along with nursing homes by local authorities. But as there are many more nursing homes than there are private hospitals, regulation tends to be centred on nursing home requirements.
Dr Bull fears that running acute care regulation alongside long term care regulation, could lead to a less effective regulatory regime.
He said: "The issues being examined are completely different. In nursing homes the focus is on the adequate provision of accommodation, non-professional care and diets. While in a hospital, the focus should be on whether a surgeon has the track record to be treating cancer for example, or if a hospital operates an open heart surgery programme. Is it getting the results it should be getting?"
But PPP broadly backs the
call for tighter regulation of private healthcare provision and
the recognition that the system currently in place is out of date. For example, the group welcomed the recommendation for setting up a formal complaints procedure.
"Surgeons are not employed by the private hospital making the complaints process difficult," said Dr Bull. He added that the hospitals themselves have no statutory responsibility for the standard of care that a specialist may be giving.
