Royal Surrey Foundation Trust is set to take legal action against the private healthcare insurance giant, Bupa, accusing the company of failing to fully reimburse the NHS for treating its … Read more
Hospitals
Research that shows better outcomes for private hospitals is missing the key depth to be definitive. The data shows that NHS patients treated in private hospitals are wealthier, older, fitter … Read more
Adult wards at St Andrew’s Healthcare, a major independent mental health provider, has been criticised by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission, after an inspection at a facility in Northampton. The provider … Read more
Spire Healthcare, Britain’s second-largest private hospital operator, as seen its profits rise as a result of a surge in patients choosing to pay for hip and knee operations, as the … Read more
Cygnet Health Care has been repeatedly criticised by regulators and has now had its leadership at one hospital described as “ineffective”. The company received an urgent enforcement notice from the … Read more
According to the HSJ NHS England has invoked a ‘surge’ clause in its Covid contracts with private hospitals and given six private hospitals in London a week’s notice that their entire capacity … Read more
An exultant article from the grinning director of the Independent Healthcare Provider Network (IHPN) David Furness in the October issue of Healthcare Markets magazine reminds readers that the dire situation of the NHS has … Read more
The Guardian reports that there are concerns that long NHS waiting times caused by the coronavirus crisis are exacerbating pre-existing health inequalities and creating a “two-tier” system, as more people turn to … Read more
An investigation by The Times has found that medical companies have charged the NHS inflated prices for ventilators. The government paid Excalibur Healthcare Services £135 million to supply 2,700 ventilators, … Read more
A series of contract awards, which total £1.6 bn, published for the first time shows that Circle Health and Spire Healthcare were handed the largest contracts to provide extra staff … Read more
HSJ reports that private hospital providers have been asked to apply to a new procurement framework worth up to £10bn, from which NHS organisations will purchase additional capacity for up to … Read more
This article gives an overview of the failures that have taken place when non-NHS organisations (private and not-for-profit) have been awarded contracts to run NHS services. Failures have taken place … Read more
The latest available NHS England figures (September 3) show that of available beds open overnight, an undifferentiated 110,000 beds of all types (general and acute, mental health, maternity, Learning Difficulties) were … Read more
A report from the organisation for NHS managers, NHS Providers, warns that the increasing use of private sector hospitals to look after patients with complex learning disabilities has left patients at risk … Read more
Over £1 million has been spent so far on developing a Business Case for centralising pathology services in Lancashire covering four NHS trusts, according to information released under the Freedom … Read more
A £5 billion deal to extend the use of the private sector to treat NHS patients is being blocked by the Treasury according to reports from inside the NHS. The … Read more
NHS England is to enter into a historic deal with the private sector to provide thousands more beds, extra ventilators and additional staff as the health service attempts to fight against the … Read more
A patient safety inquiry has been launched after the IT company, Cerner, a private contractor, failed to send more than 28,000 pieces of confidential medical correspondence to GPs, according to the … Read more
After a wave of industrial action, facilities workers at Imperial College Healthcare NHS trust are to be brought back in-house, meaning hundreds of outsourced cleaning and catering staff will be … Read more
Synlab has been announced as the preferred bidder for a 15 year pathology contract worth £2.25 billion covering a large part of central and south London. The German company has … Read more
