Daily Comment / Health

GP commissioning boost
Source: HSJ, 24th July 2008
Private companies are to help practice based commissioning consortiums put together business cases that primary care trusts can understand.

Practice Based Commissioning is an important component of PCT commissioning. But PCTs and GPs appear to be speaking different languages - GPs are apparently poor at converting clinical ideas into business cases for their PCT to assess. The DH is going to set up a support service to help. In the meantime, if you’d like to talk, Credo can also help.

Survey finds foundation trusts’ hidden private income
Source: HSJ; 24th July 2008
Foundation trusts earned up to £70m more income from private patients last year than their accounts show, a confidential report for the regulator Monitor suggests.

Foundation Trusts (FTs) are allowed to derive a capped portion of their income from private patients. This report suggests that FTs have kept within these boundaries under the strict definition of private income (c. £4m per FT) but have exceeded it if a broader definition is used. FTs do have a commitment to serve non-paying patients but if they’re Private Patient Units (PPUs) are doing well, why deny them the chance to compete in the private health market? After all, the private sector is competing in the NHS space.

NHS making progress on 18-week target
Source: Laing & Buisson, 24th July 2008
Figures for May published today show that 89% of admitted patients and 94% of non-admitted patients whose journey was tracked completed their referral to treatment pathway within the 18-week target. The figures are only marginally ahead of those for April, which stood at 86.6% and 92.2% respectively, but have improved dramatically on the same time last year when just 53% of patients were treated within the target time.

Good news indeed. It’s handy for NHS trusts to be able to draw upon the independent hospital sector to achieve this target. But the independent hospitals are not so confident that there will be much work coming their way in future, see the next story.

Independent sector to play a role in NHS care
Source: Laing & Buisson, 29th July 2008
The government’s director-general of health commissioning, Mark Britnell, has sent an open letter to independent providers operating in the acute care and private hospitals sector in an effort to reassure them that their role in supplying public services is secure.

The Secretary of State has said that, “In the overall scale of the NHS, the independent sector is small beer” - estimating its contribution at “about 10 per cent of electives and around one per cent of the total NHS budget”. That was back in 2006/7. The concern of independent providers* is that the volume of work coming their way is not that substantial - ISTCs are mopping up some volume, there’s less “18 week target” work being contracted out and choice is yet to take off in a major way.

* Alliance Medical, Circle, Clinicenta, General Health Group, Nuffield Health, Partnership Health Group, Ramsay Health Care, Spire Healthcare, UKSH

NHS Choices will need to justify its £80m price tag
Source: HSJ, 24th July 2008
Bad news, I’m afraid. After doing so well over the past few months, the patient has suffered a complete relapse. Yes, the NHS has signed another massive IT contract, this time an £80m deal to create the biggest, most erudite, cradle-to-grave healthcare website in the world. Ever.

We hope this isn’t going to suffer the same ills as the NHS IT programme. Here are a couple of independent sites that get to the heart of what patients think and want (recommendations on who and where to go for care): patientopinion.org.uk; iwantgreatcare.org