I fully believe in our NHS and its values, and the Government is clear that the NHS will always provide healthcare free at the point of delivery, regardless of ability to pay. This principle applies whether NHS-funded care is being delivered by an NHS, voluntary or independent healthcare provider. I know that this forms a core part of the Health Secretary’s agenda to make our NHS faster, simpler and fairer.
Under the Health and Care Act 2022, NHS England leads the NHS in England and has a duty to ensure that all its decisions support the health and wellbeing of the people of England. The Health Secretary has the power to give NHS England directions if it is failing to discharge any of its functions.
I strongly reject the view that independent sector providers should not be able to deliver treatment funded by the NHS. This approach would lead to much greater delays in patients being able to access treatment when they need it. As we seek to reduce NHS waiting times, independent providers have a vital role to play offering additional capacity for diagnostic services, outpatient care, and elective treatments. This forms a critical part of the Government's goal of cutting waiting lists whilst increasing the productivity of the NHS, so that tax contributions lead to better care for all.
Under the NHS Constitution, patients have “the right to access certain services commissioned by NHS bodies within maximum waiting times, or for the NHS to take all reasonable steps to offer you a range of suitable alternative providers if this is not possible.”
Contrary to campaign claims, the Government is already ensuring the NHS has the necessary investment to deliver better care for patients and committed at the Spring Budget 2024 to provide an extra £2.5 billion in funding for the NHS in England in 2024-25. A further £500 million of new funding is also being provided to councils to support the provision of adult and children’s social care, in 2024/25.
The Government also wants to improve the productivity of the NHS by reforming it so that doctors and nurses can focus on treating patients and not form filling. This goal is backed by the £3.45 billion of funding announced by the Chancellor at the Spring Budget 2024 and will be focused on creating a step change in how the NHS uses technology.
In addition, the Government is making the largest health capital investment in a decade, including the hospital rebuilding programme, and funding for new community diagnostic centres, surgical hubs and mental health urgent and emergency care facilities. This means that the NHS remains free at the point of delivery, whilst ensuring that patients receive the best and most efficient healthcare possible.
If a provider delivers effective treatment or care for patients, I do not believe it matters who delivers the NHS-funded service and I strongly reject the premise of Every Doctor’s campaign that any service delivered by a non-NHS provider inherently leads to worse patient outcomes.
Every Doctor’s listings of “outsourced” services are also highly questionable. Its website lists services provided by social enterprises such as Turning Point Roads to Recovery, which delivers alcohol and drug treatment services for the NHS across Oxfordshire, which are rated as outstanding by the Care Quality Commission.
Turning Point has 60 years of experience in supporting people to recover from addiction and brings valuable expertise in this field to the NHS. It is absurd for Every Doctor to suggest that such an organisation should have no role in delivering NHS services.
Likewise, independent providers are making a significant difference to reducing waiting lists in the NHS. Without their involvement, patients would be facing much longer waits for routine treatment like hip and knee replacements.
I also strongly dispute the claims being made by We Own It about the use of private and independent healthcare providers to deliver NHS care. Even the authors of the University of Oxford study themselves note in their conclusion that: “Our findings should not be interpreted as necessarily showing a causal relationship between outsourcing and mortality rates.”
The Government is committed to improving standards of patient safety, wherever NHS or independent sector care is provided. This has included establishing the Health Services Safety Investigation Body to investigate patient safety concerns, including care at private or independent healthcare provider settings.
The Government and the Health Secretary are committed to cutting waiting lists and reforming our NHS to be faster, simpler and fairer for everyone and I fully support these aims.
