Headline Findings

This report comprehensively sets out the answers to the survey questions that we put to our members. We received the highest response rate ever, with 70% of members completing the survey, with the respondents reflecting the full breadth of IHPN’s membership. 

While there are many interesting findings and conclusions, some of the key headlines are:

• Against a backdrop of doom and gloom about the UK economy, independent healthcare providers have increasing positivity in all its 3 key markets – domestic self-pay, PMI, and NHS funded. The positivity has increased across the four years that we’ve run the Barometer.
  
  
• Workforce again came out as being the greatest challenge and area of concern. We know this is a challenge for the health system as a whole. The important role that the independent sector plays on recruitment comes through strongly, along with their commitment to training and developing the current workforce, as well as the workforce of the future. IHPN will be doing more work on this in 2024 to illustrate the length and breadth of the sector’s contribution to workforce development.  
  
  
• What comes through loud and clear is that independent healthcare providers want to play their part in delivering NHS funded care to reduce the waiting lists in elective, diagnostic and community care. But equally what we are hearing is that the NHS is not fully utilising the capacity and capability of the sector. We know that the independent sector could have and wanted to play a far more substantial role in delivering Community Diagnostic Centres and it is probably a little early to say whether the work of the elective recovery taskforce will prove successful in encouraging greater usage of the sector. 
  
  Take a look below at Danielle Henry and Andrew Vaux discussing these 3 main takeaways: