19.07.18
NHS spends over £1bn in buying care from private sector to meet demand
Short-staffed NHS providers in England are spending over £1bn in buying care to meet growing demand, NHS Improvement figures show.
First reported on by the BBC, NHS Improvement’s Quarter Four performance report for 2017/18 released at the end of May shows that pressures on acute services has created “capacity constraints,” which led to purchases of care from other providers and an overspend by £278m, of which £173m is related to ‘non-NHS’ bodies.
“Given the experience of rising demand and operational pressures in 2017/18, local health systems need to work together so they can meet the increasing levels of demand we will continue to see,” the document said.
“Significant opportunities also remain for improving efficiency and quality and providers and local health systems will need to tackle this in 2018/19 and beyond.”
Areas including non-emergency operations and acquiring places in care homes in a bid to prevent ‘bed-blocking’ were also sectors NHS cash was spent on to meet demand in care.
The head of analysis at NHS Providers, Phillippa Hentsch, said the purchases are wholly “last-resort measures,” where the only alternative is to cancel.
She added: “Hospitals have to hand-over the patients because they have simply not got the beds, staff or theatres free to see them due to the pressures on the emergency side.
“They will have discussed it with the patients themselves and come to the decision that it is in their best interests rather than keep waiting to be seen.
“The best interests of the patients are what are paramount. But it is valuable income that is lost to those hospitals. It seems such a waste. It is another sign that things are not working properly.”
The figures from NHS Improvement show over £1bn spent on the sector in each of the last two years.
Figures for earlier years are not available.
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