The Government is considering a partnership with the private healthcare sector to help deal with bot...
The Government is considering a partnership with the private healthcare sector to help deal with bottlenecks in the NHS.
The Department of Health is currently in negotiations with the Independent Healthcare Association (IHA) and confirmation of further details of the agreement will come in July when the Health Secretary Alan Milburn publishes his national plan for the NHS.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said the move will allow the NHS to buy services from the private sector when the NHS has reached its full capacity.
She said: "Milburn has stated for a long time that the Government has no ideological barrier to the private sector and this agreement will formalise this."
The deal would prevent a repeat of the situation last year when the flu epidemic stretched the NHS to its limits.
Peter Fermoy, communications manager at the IHA, said: "We can offer the NHS a further 150,000-160,000 acute procedures in our hospitals every year."
Hospitals group BUPA has welcomed the move. Andrew Vallance Owen, group medical director at the company, said: "This year alone we have treated 1,000 NHS patients and have the capacity to treat in the region of 20,000 a year, with immediate effect.
"In addition to this, over the next 12 months our care homes could provide intermediate care for approximately 6,000 NHS patients who are not well enough to return home but do not need to be in hospital. This would allow NHS Trusts to treat more patients who might otherwise have to wait."
He added that BUPA has been in talks with the Department of Health and has submitted proposals for extending the partnership with the NHS in the belief that it will lead to improved care for NHS patients.
