NHS funding of private sector rose by £3bn in six years, report says: Study shows role of non-NHS providers in delivering NHS-funded care in England has increased dramatically.
Spending on private services by the NHS reached a record £8.7bn last year, a jump of more than £3bn since 2006, according to research.
A study by the Nuffield Trust and the Institute of Fiscal Studies reveals that the role of non-NHS providers in delivering NHS-funded care in England has increased dramatically from 2006, with the result that in certain areas of healthcare the independent sector is now a fixture in the NHS.
The report gives as an example the proportion of hip and knee replacements delivered by private companies and funded by the NHS, which rose from "negligible" in 2003 to a fifth of all such operations today.
The report says choice and competition were embedded into the NHS in 2008 with a significant effect on local hospitals. It says a study last year into three key elective procedures – including hernia operations and hip replacements – found that "there has been a rapid rise in the share of NHS-funded patients treated by private providers, matched by a corresponding fall in the proportion of patients treated by their nearest NHS acute trust".
Spending varied across the regions. In Yorkshire and Humberside, almost 10% of all NHS funds were being used to pay private companies for patient treatment. In the north-east the figure was 4%.
The extra cash has helped to protect private healthcare providers from the economic downturn. The report says the revenues of private hospitals over the past five years would have been lower without demand from the NHS – especially given that between 2008 and 2011 private spending on health fell by almost 6% in real terms.
While Labour continued to lavish cash on the NHS – public spending on healthcare in the UK increased in both 2008 and 2009 – the authors say the economic crisis has introduced cuts into the health service. Despite coalition promises to ringfence the NHS budget, the report says spending on health "fell in real terms by 0.7% in 2010 and a further 1.2% in 2011".
Anita Charlesworth, Nuffield Trust chief economist and an author of the report, said it was an open question as to whether public funding of the private sector could continue growing. The government's policy is to extend "market reforms" into new parts of the health service.
"Whether spending on private providers will continue to increase as NHS spending is essentially frozen is less clear," Charlesworth said. "There is a need to monitor whether the planned extension of choice into community services leads to an increased involvement of the voluntary sector or whether in response the private sector providers also expand into this area."
A Department of Health spokesperson said: "The government is meeting its promise to deliver a real-terms increase in health spending. Health spending will increase by 1% in real terms this year compared to last year and 0.5% compared to 2009-10.
"It's right that patients should get the best service, regardless of who provides it. Charities, social enterprises and independent providers play an important part in providing NHS care, and have done for many years, helping give patients more choice of where and how they are treated." The Guardian
Spending on private services by the NHS reached a record £8.7bn last year, a jump of more than £3bn since 2006, according to research.
A study by the Nuffield Trust and the Institute of Fiscal Studies reveals that the role of non-NHS providers in delivering NHS-funded care in England has increased dramatically from 2006, with the result that in certain areas of healthcare the independent sector is now a fixture in the NHS.
The report gives as an example the proportion of hip and knee replacements delivered by private companies and funded by the NHS, which rose from "negligible" in 2003 to a fifth of all such operations today.
The report says choice and competition were embedded into the NHS in 2008 with a significant effect on local hospitals. It says a study last year into three key elective procedures – including hernia operations and hip replacements – found that "there has been a rapid rise in the share of NHS-funded patients treated by private providers, matched by a corresponding fall in the proportion of patients treated by their nearest NHS acute trust".
Spending varied across the regions. In Yorkshire and Humberside, almost 10% of all NHS funds were being used to pay private companies for patient treatment. In the north-east the figure was 4%.
The extra cash has helped to protect private healthcare providers from the economic downturn. The report says the revenues of private hospitals over the past five years would have been lower without demand from the NHS – especially given that between 2008 and 2011 private spending on health fell by almost 6% in real terms.
While Labour continued to lavish cash on the NHS – public spending on healthcare in the UK increased in both 2008 and 2009 – the authors say the economic crisis has introduced cuts into the health service. Despite coalition promises to ringfence the NHS budget, the report says spending on health "fell in real terms by 0.7% in 2010 and a further 1.2% in 2011".
Anita Charlesworth, Nuffield Trust chief economist and an author of the report, said it was an open question as to whether public funding of the private sector could continue growing. The government's policy is to extend "market reforms" into new parts of the health service.
"Whether spending on private providers will continue to increase as NHS spending is essentially frozen is less clear," Charlesworth said. "There is a need to monitor whether the planned extension of choice into community services leads to an increased involvement of the voluntary sector or whether in response the private sector providers also expand into this area."
A Department of Health spokesperson said: "The government is meeting its promise to deliver a real-terms increase in health spending. Health spending will increase by 1% in real terms this year compared to last year and 0.5% compared to 2009-10.
"It's right that patients should get the best service, regardless of who provides it. Charities, social enterprises and independent providers play an important part in providing NHS care, and have done for many years, helping give patients more choice of where and how they are treated." The Guardian
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