An agreement signed by the NHS and the independent healthcare sector could substantially reduce NHS ...
An agreement signed by the NHS and the independent healthcare sector could substantially reduce NHS waiting lists, according to the Independent Healthcare Association (IHA).
Peter Fermoy, communications manager at the IHA, said: "Each independent hospital could perform an additional three operations a day on behalf of the NHS."
With 200 independent hospitals handling 15 further operations each, the initiative has the potential to take on 150,000 extra procedures for NHS patients every year.
At the signing, Barry Hassell, chief executive at the IHA, said: "The independent sector delivers a million surgical procedures a year; it provides treatment and care for thousands of people with mental health problems, and it provides more than 150 million beds every year."
The concordat, For the Benefit of Patients, will cover elective care, critical care and intermediate care as well as workforce planning and service planning. It will apply to all aspects of treatment from routine treatments such as hip replacements to more complex procedures such as coronary care. The volume of cases and the fees charged will be agreed on a local level between the health authority and the hospital in question.
At the launch, Alan Milburn, minister for health, said that the Government was still committed to healthcare based on need, rather than ability to pay. He said: "This agreement has been made solely in the interests of NHS patients. Using space capacity in the private and voluntary sector will mean more NHS patients can be treated, more quickly."
Clare Hollingsworth, managing director at BUPA, said that this collaboration between the public and independent sectors would help provide better care for patients.
She said: "We will be working on proposals for extending six areas which we believe will lead to better and more care for NHS patients."
