The government is planning to “turbocharge” its use of private hospitals and healthcare to cut the NHS patient backlog which has hit more than seven million people.
The Department of Health (DoH) is introducing a taskforce which will recommend ways in which NHS treatment can be commissioned into the private sector.
There is no new money for the additional commissioning with funding for the further private sector treatment to come from existing NHS budgets.
NHS waiting lists ballooned over the 12 years since the Conservatives came into government with 4.4 million patients already awaiting treatment before the pandemic hit in early 2020.
The latest figures showed that figure had broken the seven million barrier with 1.5 million needing to be fully diagnosed before starting treatment.
In September then-health secretary Thérèse Coffey committed to maximising use of the private health sector to expand NHS capacity.
Current health secretary Steve Barclay (pictured) has begun implementing this approach by introducing the Elective Recovery Taskforce which will hold its first meeting today.
The taskforce will be chaired by health minister Will Quince and made up of academics and experts from the NHS and independent sector, the Department of Health said.
It will “advise the government on ways to turbocharge NHS recovery from the pandemic, reduce waiting times for patients and eliminate waits for routine care of over a year by 2025,” the DoH added.
A full list of taskforce members has not been released and the department told Health & Protection it was not standard practice for this to be shared.
However, Health & Protection understands the list is expected to be published later this week.
Utilise private sector capacity
“Experts will focus on how the NHS can utilise existing capacity in independent sector to cut the backlog,” the DoH said.
“The independent sector has been used to bolster NHS capacity and ease pressure at critical times for nearly two decades, delivering over 450,000 appointments in October alone, approximately 6% of NHS care.”
The taskforce will look to improve communication and collaboration between the NHS and independent sector, clearly setting out what theatres, beds and other settings such as outpatients are available in the independent sector, it added.
An elective care recovery plan has been put in place with government nearing its first target by virtually eliminating waits of over two years for treatment.
It has also reduced the number of people waiting 18 months for treatment by almost 60% in one year.
The DoH said the taskforce will help deliver on the remaining targets, including eliminating 18-month waits by April 2023 and waits of longer than a year by March 2025.
‘Turbocharge current plans’
Health and social care secretary Steve Barclay admitted the NHS was facing an unprecedented challenge.
“Hardworking staff have made strong progress but I want to turbocharge our current plans to bust the backlog and help patients get the treatment they need,” he said.
“The taskforce will look at sensible steps to utilise all existing capacity to slash waiting lists while ensuring the NHS always remains free at the point of use.
Health minister Will Quince added that the taskforce would “ensure we’re using all the capacity available to us to improve care across the NHS and independent sector, and give patients more autonomy over when and where they are treated.”
Independent Healthcare Providers Network chief executive David Hare said: “We strongly welcome the establishment of a new taskforce to look at how the NHS can turbocharge its use of the independent sector to tackle the elective care backlog.
“For decades independent sector capacity has been used by the NHS to improve patients’ access to care free at the point of use, and giving patients’ a legal right to choose an independent sector provider for their treatment was a big factor in getting NHS waiting times down in the 2000s.
“The taskforce is a great opportunity to learn lessons from that period and in particular to make good on patients’ legal right to choose the best provider for them, whether public or independent sector, and to ensure that the capacity and capability which is available in the independent sector is being fully utilised for the benefit of NHS patients.”
Local diagnostic centres
A further 19 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) were also announced taking the total of approved CDCs to 127.
The government intends to open up to 160 CDCs to perform up to nine million additional tests a year by 2025, with 91 are already up and running, backed by £2.3bn funding.
The DoH said the centres had delivered over 2.4 million tests, checks and scans since July 2021 and were are speeding up access to services and reducing waiting times.
In September CDCs delivered 11% of all diagnostic activity, with a government target of 40% of diagnoses to take place in CDCs by 2025.