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Plan by NHS Supply Chain to deal with backlog of patients waiting for surgery and tests will see 11 companies paid £780m to diagnose and treat patients.
The NHS has agreed the biggest-ever privatisation of its services in a deal worth up to £780m intended to help hospitals tackle the growing backlogs of patients waiting for surgery and tests.
The deal will see 11 private firms paid by the NHS to carry out heart, joint and other types of operations and perform scans, X-rays and other diagnostic tests on patients.
Under the contract many services will be provided in mobile facilities rather than hospitals. The NHS has been using mobile services for breast screening programmes but the contracts mark a large expansion into other areas of treatment and testing. The system is seen as more patient-friendly but it will also allow the NHS to rapidly buy in services from firms to help meet key waiting times targets.
The deal has been struck by the little-known body called NHS Supply Chain, which helps the health service with procurement. NHS Supply Chain has agreed the scale of the work across the health service and individual NHS trusts will now be able to hire the mobile firms to help clear backlogs.
The contract has raised concern because three of the 11 profit-driven companies involved have been heavily criticised, including two by the NHS regulator, for providing poor quality of care in hospitals and care homes. Labour’s shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said it showed that “chunks” of the NHS were being sold off – but the Department of Health insisted there had been no significant increase in the privatisation of the health service.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/...est-ever-privatisation-deal-to-tackle-backlog
The NHS has agreed the biggest-ever privatisation of its services in a deal worth up to £780m intended to help hospitals tackle the growing backlogs of patients waiting for surgery and tests.
The deal will see 11 private firms paid by the NHS to carry out heart, joint and other types of operations and perform scans, X-rays and other diagnostic tests on patients.
Under the contract many services will be provided in mobile facilities rather than hospitals. The NHS has been using mobile services for breast screening programmes but the contracts mark a large expansion into other areas of treatment and testing. The system is seen as more patient-friendly but it will also allow the NHS to rapidly buy in services from firms to help meet key waiting times targets.
The deal has been struck by the little-known body called NHS Supply Chain, which helps the health service with procurement. NHS Supply Chain has agreed the scale of the work across the health service and individual NHS trusts will now be able to hire the mobile firms to help clear backlogs.
The contract has raised concern because three of the 11 profit-driven companies involved have been heavily criticised, including two by the NHS regulator, for providing poor quality of care in hospitals and care homes. Labour’s shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said it showed that “chunks” of the NHS were being sold off – but the Department of Health insisted there had been no significant increase in the privatisation of the health service.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/...est-ever-privatisation-deal-to-tackle-backlog