NHS spending on private hospital care soars to £615m

31 Oct 08
The NHS spent a record £615m on private sector hospital care last year, industry analysts have revealed

01 November 2008

By Tash Shifrin

The NHS spent a record £615m on private sector hospital care last year, industry analysts have revealed.

Money from the NHS accounted for an estimated 19% of the private hospital industry's £3.2bn revenues in 2007, almost double the 10.5% figure for 2004, according to Laing and Buisson's annual Laing's healthcare market review.

There was 'a strong rise in demand for elective surgery and diagnostics' provided by private firms to the NHS, the report, published on October 29, said.

It added that around £305m of NHS spending on private sector acute health care came from local trust budgets, while central Department of Health spending on the independent sector treatment centre programme accounted for another £270m. The rest, around £40m, was spent on centrally procured diagnostic services.

ISTCs have been highly controversial, with the surgery centres set up in the first wave of the programme paid a premium on top of NHS tariff rates and given guaranteed volumes of work. In some areas NHS trust finance was hit as patients were diverted to the new centres.

Following criticism by the Commons health select committee, Health Secretary Alan Johnson announced last year that plans for a third wave of ISTCs had been scrapped.

But Laing and Buisson said: 'ISTCs have been the main driver of growth in NHS spending in the last three years and will continue to drive growth in the medium term (2010—2015) as the first wave continues and the scaled-down second wave becomes fully operational.'

It predicts that NHS use of private acute provision will increase by 20% in 2008, and 15%—25% in 2009.

 

The Sussex Orthopaedic NHS Treatment Centre, an ISTC run by private firm Care UK, has made vital improvements to its service to ensure patient safety according to a Healthcare Commission report published on October 30. The commission had earlier found poor processes for prevention of serious incidents and gaps in staff training, management practices and hygiene procedures.

 

PFnov2008

Did you enjoy this article?

AddToAny

Top