Surgery in independent sector treatment centres is at least as good as in NHS hospitals, new research has found.
This should reduce fears that private healthcare providers are 'cherry picking' the best patients and supports the idea of separating elective and emergency surgery to improve care quality, the authors said.
The study, published on bmj.com, examined the differences in outcomes between elective surgery undertaken in independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs) and NHS providers in England.
It found that patients undergoing surgery in independent treatment centres had slightly better outcomes than patients treated by NHS centres.
However, the researchers stressed that such differences were minor and unlikely to be clinically significant.
The results also showed that patients seen in independent centres tended to be younger, in better health before their operation and from more affluent areas than those seen by the NHS.
This, the authors said, lent support to the idea that separating elective surgical care from emergency services could improve the quality of care.
The research was led by Professor Jan van der Meulen at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and involved hip or knee replacement, hernia repair, or surgery for varicose veins in 25 independent and 72 NHS centres.
"In line with their contracts, ISTCs treat patients with a more favourable case mix profile, but the differences before surgery are small and unlikely to be clinically significant," the authors said.
"Our results lessen concerns that ISTCs are ‘cherry picking' the more healthy patients and that they have a negative impact on service reconfiguration and surgical training.
"The findings support the idea that separating elective surgical care from emergency services could improve the quality of care," they concluded.
