The British Medical Association (BMA) is urging the Government to provide a single inspection body f...
The British Medical Association (BMA) is urging the Government to provide a single inspection body for both private and NHS healthcare. It said this would provide more consistent standards following increased involvement between the two sectors.
The BMA believes the NHS inspection body, Commission for Health Improvement, and the private inspection body, National Care Standards Commission, should be merged.
Dr Ian Bogle, chairman of the BMA Council, has written to Health Secretary Alan Milburn airing the association's concerns. Bogle said that amending the NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill would achieve greater consistency for patients.
'The BMA has a long-standing concern that patients choosing private healthcare are inadequately protected. As growing numbers of NHS patients are receiving care in private facilities under the Concordat, the case for consistency between NHS and private care becomes overwhelming,' said Bogle.
The Independent Hospitals Association (IHA) has been campaigning for a single inspection body for years and welcomed the BMA's move. Peter Fermoy, communications manager at IHA, said: 'Increasingly the two sectors are merging and the number of NHS patients treated in private hospitals is on the increase due to the Concordat. A single inspector makes sense.
Private healthcare providers are also backing the move. Adrian Bull, medical director at PPP healthcare, said: 'Two regimes means two sets of standards. Patients staying in the same hospital fall under different inspectors depending on their treatment. The Government should implement one over-all set of regulations.'
