NHS to expand private sector use to tackle waiting list

The government has announced that the use of the private sector to tackle the NHS backlog in England is to be expanded, in a drive to unlock spare capacity to allow more people access to the treatment and operations they need.

This includes opening eight privately-run diagnostic centres and the use of new rules to make it easier for the NHS to purchase care in the private sector.

From October, the government has promised that patients waiting longer than 40 weeks for their first outpatient appointment or treatment can request switching to somewhere else for their care.

The news comes as a record 7.5 million people are revealed to be waiting for treatment, three million more than before the pandemic.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, welcomed the announcement, adding “At a time when resources are significantly constrained, looking beyond NHS resources in order to support trusts is very important.”

She went on to say that the NHS had long used different types of providers, adding “What we do need to see is desperately needed additional capacity.”

Helen Buckingham of the Nuffield Trust think tank, said collaboration between the NHS and the private sector was necessary, but “unintended consequences” needed to be considered.

She said “This scheme will need to be carefully designed to make sure that the NHS is not simply left with the most complex cases without the right staff or capacity to deal with them.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (jacquelinevance@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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