IHPN Industry Barometer: State of the Sector 2024
Supported by
The NHS
With the NHS a key market for the majority of IHPN members, we asked a serious of questions about their role in the NHS and relationship with key NHS bodies – nationally and locally.
With regards Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), almost half (49%) of members do not feel they are part of their local system, up from 42% last year, with a corresponding drop in those who do feel part of the local system, from 58% to 49%.
In terms of the impact of ICS on their businesses, the vast majority of members (67%) see them as neither positive nor negative. There has been a significant drop in the proportion seeing ICSs as having a positive impact – from 22% to just 9% this year, with a corresponding rise in those seeing them as negative from 0% to 13%.
While around 1 in 3 respondents felt that the relationships between independent providers and their local NHS organisations have improved in the last year, this represents a drop from 43% from 2023, with the majority (59%) reporting a “mixed bag”, with some relations improving, while others have worsened.
Respondents feel there will be two main drivers of commissioner behaviour over the next few years – pressure to achieve savings (cited by 56%) and the need to tackle the NHS backlogs (41%).