Gavin Francis claims that “the private [healthcare] sector fails to comply with the highest professional standards of evidence-based practice” (Need, not privilege, Review, 2 October). This misrepresents the high-quality care provided by the independent sector and ignores its contribution to the UK’s healthcare system, including the crucial role of alleviating the pressure on an overstretched NHS. Independent hospitals, like NHS providers, are inspected by the Care Quality Commission, against the same criteria. In the CQC’s State of Care report 2013/14, independent hospitals scored 99% for treating people with dignity and respect and 93% for patient safety standards.
Furthermore, independent hospitals provide additional capacity and deliver treatment to NHS patients according to NHS tariff prices. This helps to efficiently reduce waiting times and enables faster access for those with acute needs. NHS outpatients treated in May 2014 by independent hospitals waited 5.3 weeks, on average, for treatment. Without this capacity, the average patient would have waited an additional 10 days.
The warning from Francis that trust in doctors may be eroded by the private sector is unfounded. The reality is that independent hospitals offer very high levels of care to NHS, insured and self-paying patients, a fact that has been and continues to be independently verified by the CQC. The sector plays a critical role in delivering the nation’s health and can successfully coexist with a system of healthcare free at the point of need.
Fiona Booth
Chief executive, Association of Independent Healthcare Organisations
• Gavin Francis struck a chord with my own family’s experience of private medicine. My father paid to have a knee operation privately with the intention of improving his health to support the care of his terminally ill wife. Unfortunately, the operation was not a complete success and in addition he contracted MRSA. The private practice was not able or was unwilling to provide the care needed but, as Francis described, the NHS stepped in. I guess this is not an isolated case but one example of many that all knockers of the NHS should be aware of. I also believe the majority of staff at the private hospital had been trained by the NHS, funded by the taxpayer. Does this loss of taxpayers’ investment raise the proposition that this loss of skilled labour be investigated and indeed some form of levy be placed on private healthcare providers to fund the training of future NHS staff?
John Barry
Stockport
.jpg?w=600)
