Information gaps in England’s independent healthcare sector

Nils Gutacker; Michael Anderson; Sabrina Wimmer; Elias Mossialos; Brian Abel-Smith

doi:10.1136/bmj-2024-079261

Information gaps in England’s independent healthcare sector

Nils Gutacker, Michael Anderson, Sabrina Wimmer, Elias Mossialos, Brian Abel-Smith

Centre for Health Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial › peer-review

Abstract

At the beginning of 2024, 7.6 million people were on NHS waiting lists in England.1 Politicians from both the Conservative and Labour parties have indicated they will continue to procure elective care services from the independent healthcare sector as a strategy to reduce NHS waiting lists.23 Additionally, privately funded admissions have grown steadily over the past two years.4 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) private healthcare investigation order in 2014 has helped improve reporting of activity to the Private Healthcare Information Network.56 However, we still do not have the information on workforce, hospital capacity, outpatient services, and prices required to understand the implications of greater independent healthcare sector activity on the healthcare workforce, demand for services, and healthcare quality.

Original language	English
Article number	e079261
Journal	BMJ
Volume	384
Issue number	079261
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-079261
Publication status	Published - 19 Mar 2024

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10.1136/bmj-2024-079261

Cite this

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title = "Information gaps in England{\textquoteright}s independent healthcare sector",

abstract = "At the beginning of 2024, 7.6 million people were on NHS waiting lists in England.1 Politicians from both the Conservative and Labour parties have indicated they will continue to procure elective care services from the independent healthcare sector as a strategy to reduce NHS waiting lists.23 Additionally, privately funded admissions have grown steadily over the past two years.4 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) private healthcare investigation order in 2014 has helped improve reporting of activity to the Private Healthcare Information Network.56 However, we still do not have the information on workforce, hospital capacity, outpatient services, and prices required to understand the implications of greater independent healthcare sector activity on the healthcare workforce, demand for services, and healthcare quality.",

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AU - Gutacker, Nils

AU - Anderson, Michael

AU - Wimmer, Sabrina

AU - Mossialos, Elias

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N2 - At the beginning of 2024, 7.6 million people were on NHS waiting lists in England.1 Politicians from both the Conservative and Labour parties have indicated they will continue to procure elective care services from the independent healthcare sector as a strategy to reduce NHS waiting lists.23 Additionally, privately funded admissions have grown steadily over the past two years.4 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) private healthcare investigation order in 2014 has helped improve reporting of activity to the Private Healthcare Information Network.56 However, we still do not have the information on workforce, hospital capacity, outpatient services, and prices required to understand the implications of greater independent healthcare sector activity on the healthcare workforce, demand for services, and healthcare quality.

AB - At the beginning of 2024, 7.6 million people were on NHS waiting lists in England.1 Politicians from both the Conservative and Labour parties have indicated they will continue to procure elective care services from the independent healthcare sector as a strategy to reduce NHS waiting lists.23 Additionally, privately funded admissions have grown steadily over the past two years.4 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) private healthcare investigation order in 2014 has helped improve reporting of activity to the Private Healthcare Information Network.56 However, we still do not have the information on workforce, hospital capacity, outpatient services, and prices required to understand the implications of greater independent healthcare sector activity on the healthcare workforce, demand for services, and healthcare quality.

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