Private hospitals’ business model is archaic, unsafe and indefensible

Private hospitals’ business model is archaic, unsafe and indefensible With a growing share of NHS-funded surgery being outsourced, Jeremy Hunt’s warning over risks is long overdue

Jeremy Hunt’s call for private hospital companies to improve their safety and quality standards after a damning report on the sector by the regulator marks a long overdue – though still tacit – acknowledgment that the private sector’s business model is based on an archaic and dangerous concept of medical practice. Usually in private hospitals an independent surgeon operates alone and is off-site and not available for post-operative care as soon as their patient is back on the ward. If anything goes wrong, the nearest NHS hospital is an ambulance dash away. This model poses distinct risks to patients.

This is increasingly concerning as a growing share of all NHS-funded surgery (almost 600,000 hip and knee replacements a year) is now carried out in private hospitals – NHS patients now account for roughly half of all their admissions. Continue reading... The Guardian