Guidance recently issued by NHS England could lead to entire networks of diagnostic imaging services being run by the private sector.
NHS trusts have until 2023 to set up separate entities to run their diagnostic imaging services as part of a reform of diagnostic services. NHS England notes in the guidance that the networks will be “significant operating businesses in their own right”, and must have a “degree of autonomy” and “separation from the trusts”.
NHS England has given the trusts seven options for setting up a network, one of which is “outsourcing” of the entire network to a commercial partner, which is marked in its guidance as one of the only two “highly feasible” options, alongside “collaboration” between two or more NHS trusts.
Full story in The Lowdown, 2 May 2021
