UK government plans to bulk-buy hospital operations from private sector

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 22 Mar 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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It seems the UK government is planning to buy thousands of operations a year from private hospitals. Their aim is to reduce NHS (National Health Service) waiting lists.

David Hinchliffe, Chairman of the Commons Health Select Committee, said "Scarce resources should be invested in the NHS where they can benefit many more patients rather than providing profits for the private sector," said.

Government ministers say they are setting contracts that will make it easier for them to get good discounts from private hospitals.

The UK Government is allowed to buy treatment for their NHS patients when the NHS does not have the capacity. The government and private hospital groups signed a concordat in 2000.

The scheme has not been very popular because of the high prices.

In the new plan, the UK Department of Health (DoH) would pledge to buy a pre-agreed number of operations for the whole year at reduced prices. The private sector would then carry out more work for the NHS. This is according the The Times (UK). Department of Health spokesman said "Latest financial estimates indicate that acute treatment purchased from the independent sector last year cost the NHS around £100 million. Spot purchasing by NHS Trusts for small volumes does cost more but using the independent sector has helped us to drive down waiting lists and treat nearly 60,000 NHS patients more quickly than would otherwise have been possible. As the independent treatment centre programme develops there will less and less spot purchasing. This programme is already helping the NHS to secure better value for money by negotiating prices that are near or, in some cases nearly 10% below the comparable NHS tariff. The independent sector treatment centre programme is being negotiated with a range of international independent providers on five year contracts to ensure that the NHS gets better value when procuring additional capacity.