NHS cancer surgery in London could be cancelled as hospitals are straining under the pressure of more inpatient admissions related to Covid-19 – and capacity in the independent/private sector is going to waste, it has been claimed.
NHS England ended contracts with leading private hospital operators HCA, The London Clinic and the Cromwell Hospital at the end of August, amid claims of underutilisation.
An agreement had been struck with hospital bosses who said they would not treat “low-priority” private patients ahead of NHS patients who needed surgery more urgently.
But the respected Health Service Journal (HSJ) reports that, under pressure from the Treasury, NHS England was not willing to pay the prices asked by the three private providers.
Now, a surge in the number of coronavirus patients being admitted into NHS hospitals means that capacity set aside for cancer operations is likely to be used to accommodate them instead, HSJ reports.
That means that – due to the decision to end the deal with the private operators – the NHS in the capital would no longer have the option to transfer cancer patients to hospitals in the independent sector as it did during the first wave of the pandemic.
While pressure on systems may ease slightly over Christmas, as demand traditionally falls, there is “real concern” about cancellations in January, HSJ reports.
A “senior London-based source” told the journal: “This is a real and imminent threat to London’s ability to perform cancer surgery. The reality was that NHS England offered something and these private companies simply did not respond as they had better income streams.”
The independent/private healthcare sector has carried out large volumes of procedures on behalf of the NHS in recent years, although the trend continues to be the source of highly-charged political discord.
