patient satisfaction rating of good, very good or excellent (Patient satisfaction survey carried out by Howard Warwick & Associates, Jan - Sept 2009)
Business review and key financials
Business review
UK healthcare market dynamics and outlook
According to Laing and Buisson's Healthcare Market Review
2009-2010, the acute private healthcare market (excluding
mental health, medical/physical rehabilitation, fertility
regulation, and surgeons', physicians', and anaesthetists'
fees) was worth £3,916m in 2008, of which £3,380m went
through independent hospitals and ISTCs, and a projected
£431m was related to private treatment carried out in NHS
hospitals. Private treatment in NHS hospitals has not grown
in real terms since 2002/2003. Although the overall private
acute healthcare services sector has been robust during
the early part of the recent economic downturn, there has
been polarised performance across business areas and more
recently the sector is feeling the impact of the decisions
taken by corporates during the early part of the recession.
The ABI recently announced a fall of 4.2% in insured lives
across Great Britain. In addition all operators have reported a
significant fall in self-pay demand for acute medical/surgical
treatment, including a decline in cosmetic surgery.
Choose and Book activity from the NHS has continued to
grow as GPs and patients become more familiar with the
process. Whilst the majority of C&B referrals are into NHS
units, the private sector is playing an increasingly important
role in collaborating with the public sector to ensure patients
are treated in both a timely and appropriate manner.
The new coalition Government has announced a review of
all public sector activity and the resulting consultation White
Paper was published on 12 July 2010 setting out the
Government's intentions ahead of a Health Bill to be put to
Parliament in Autumn 2010. The policy framework sets out to
move commissioning and service decisions back to general
practitioners, and also to provide incentives to drive widereaching
efficiencies.
The NHS White Paper sets out potentially one of the most
radical shake ups of the NHS since it was established.
The vision builds on the core values and principles of the
NHS – "a comprehensive service, available to all, free at
the point of use, based on need, not ability to pay."
The Government has set out how it will:
put patients at the heart of everything the NHS does;
focus on continuously improving those things that really
matter to patients – the outcome of their healthcare
empower and liberate clinicians to innovate, with the
freedom to focus on improving healthcare services
The White Paper commits the Government to increase health
spending in real terms in each year of this Parliament and has
stated that there will be no additional long term plan for the
NHS in the next five years.
Whilst this is still a consultation document the changes
proposed would if implemented, provide additional
opportunities for the private sector to work with the NHS. In
addition it is anticipated that cuts and further pressure on
funding in the public sector could lead to longer waiting lists
and provide further opportunities for the independent sector,
as a result of a return to growth of the self pay and insured sectors.
