Following news that private and public sector organisations are being encouraged to apply to run Hinchingbrooke NHS hospital in Cambridgeshire, Bill Gilliam, partner and head of the healthcare team at international law firm Eversheds comments:

"The private sector is being encouraged to become ever more involved in the running of NHS operations in order to achieve greater competition, efficiencies and effectiveness in delivery of services overall. The private sector is already delivering services to NHS patients via the Independent Treatment Centres (ISTCs), which in many areas are proving popular with users. Whilst offering the private and third sector providers the opportunity to take over NHS hospitals which are struggling seems to be a natural extension of this, whether providers can achieve improved performance from those operations remains to be seen. Progress will be watched with interest by those in both the public and private sector, particularly given the particular challenges in relation to Hinchingbrooke Hospital, with its substantial level of debt."

Eversheds partner Paul Pugh adds:

"A third sector solution, which is value driven rather than profit driven, may prove the most attractive solution to the stakeholders."

Source
Eversheds