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Please contact Megan Cleaver for all media enquiries at [email protected] or 020 7799 8601. For out of hours media enquiries please call the duty press officer on 07880 500 726.
Date of publication: 22nd Mar 2019
Categories: Independent Healthcare Voices
Following on from IHPN's event on "How will patient choice and personalisation work in Integrated Care Systems", Reform Director Andrew Haldenby gives his reflections on the future direction of the NHS Earlier this week I was lucky enough to speak at an event organised by the Independent Healthcare Providers’ Network, the body that represents private sector organisations working in partnership with the NHS. The event asked whether the NHS can do two things that look contradictory: deliver a more responsive...
Date of publication: 22nd Mar 2019
Categories: Latest news
Responding to the NAO’s report on “NHS waiting times for elective and cancer treatment”, David Hare, Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, said: “Today’s NAO report demonstrates once again the desperate lack of elective capacity in the NHS which is forcing patients to wait ever longer for vital treatment such as hip replacements and cataracts. “It’s now been almost three years since the NHS last met its target to treat 92% of elective patients within 18 weeks and...
Date of publication: 18th Mar 2019
Categories: Independent Healthcare Voices
On 11 March, NHS England’s Medical Director, Steve Powis, published his clinical review of NHS access standards. The proposals to change the four-hour A&E waiting target grabbed the headlines, but the potential changes to the 18-week waiting standard could have a profound effect on potentially millions of patients argues IHPN's data analyst Graham Kendall. The case for change Digital appointments. The report argues that the NHS Long Term Plan’s proposal to introduce digital appointments will mean that “over the next...
Date of publication: 11th Mar 2019
Categories: Latest news
Responding to the publication of NHS England's "Clinically-led review of NHS access standards", David Hare, Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, said: “It is vital that any future changes to NHS waiting times targets do not dilute patient access to care. The introduction of the 18 week target for elective care was instrumental in cutting waiting times for millions of patients from almost two years to just a matter of weeks. "NHS waiting times targets must be easily...
Date of publication: 7th Mar 2019
Categories: Latest news Media
Commenting on the recent government response to the consultation on changes to the NHS pension scheme, IHPN Chief Executive David Hare said: “We welcome the news that all relevant employers with staff on the NHS pension scheme will receive national funding to cover the increase in employer contributions, including independent, social enterprise and voluntary providers. IHPN members with staff in the NHS pension scheme will be delighted that they now have certainty about this important issue. “This is particularly welcome...
Date of publication: 1st Mar 2019
Categories: Independent Healthcare Voices
IHPN Chief Executive, David Hare, looks at what the NHS' call for new health legislation will mean for patients and taxpayers Yesterday NHS England and NHS Improvement provided further details of their proposals for NHS legislative change. Seasoned health policy observers will not have been surprised by the general direction of travel since moves towards greater ‘integration’ of services have been underway for some time, but the devil is usually in the detail, and on this occasion that certainly seems...
Date of publication: 28th Feb 2019
Categories: Latest news
Responding to NHS England and NHS Improvement’s announcement on proposals for legislative change in the NHS, David Hare, Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, said: “The current legislative arrangements for the NHS are by no means perfect, and we welcome the opportunity to put forward ideas to government on how legislative change could enable an NHS that works better for patients. And today’s document does contain some positive proposals, particularly around strengthening patient choice rights, which for too...
Date of publication: 26th Feb 2019
Categories: Independent Healthcare Voices
Professor Andrew Walton, Executive Chair of Connect Health, looks at what lessons can be learned from community healthcare when implementing the NHS Long Term Plan ambitions to deliver more patient centred care. “Bringing care closer to home” so that patients can access high quality services in their local communities has long been an objective of successive Governments. However too often when the NHS needs to make efficiencies, community health services are the first place to be hit - despite some...
Date of publication: 19th Feb 2019
Categories: Latest news
Responding to Labour party calls to prevent independent providers from winning NHS contracts, David Hare, Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), said: “The NHS is not being privatised and it’s scaremongering to suggest that it is. Nothing is being sold off, and nobody is going to pay for their care. “Awarding contracts allows NHS commissioning organisations (run by GPs) to decide what is best for patients in their local area. These contracts should always be awarded through...
Date of publication: 1st Feb 2019
Categories: Latest news
Following the announcement that former NHS England National Medical Director, Sir Bruce Keogh, will be leading on the development of a Consultant Oversight Framework (COF) for independent acute hospitals to improve the consistency around clinical governance in the sector and raise the bar in medical leadership, IHPN are pleased to confirm that an Expert Reference Group has been set up to help support this work. The External Reference Group is made up of key figures from across the medical profession...