16 May 2003
The government's vision of NHS care provided by a mix of public and private sector bodies moved a step closer this week.
Private firms, including some from overseas, have been invited to bid to run 11 new diagnostic and treatment centres (DTCs) that will provide non-urgent surgery to NHS patients.
Prime Minister Tony Blair announced the formal invitation to tender at a breakfast meeting in Downing Street on May 13 with NHS representatives and heads of the companies concerned. He hopes the DTCs will address the lack of capacity that threatens to limit his modernisation plans.
Under the initiative, which was originally announced in December, the companies can work alone, providing their own staff and facilities, or in a joint venture with the NHS.
The government believes they will help cut waiting lists by providing an extra 39,500 operations a year by 2005. By then, the maximum waiting time will be six months.
The independent providers will also be invited to tender plans for a series of chains of DTCs for common, less complex procedures such as cataract removal.
The prime minister told the meeting that the state would become the 'enabler and regulator but not always the provider', although the principle of care provided free at the point of use would remain, he added.
The overseas firms are believed to include Toronto-based Interhealth Canada and the South African firm Netcare, which is due to perform 300 hip and knee replacements on NHS patients in the north west of England this summer.
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