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Independent Healthcare Voices

Independent Healthcare Voices is a platform for healthcare and other industry leaders to share their views, observations and insight on the independent health sector and wider health and social care issues with the aim of sparking debates, spreading learning across the system and sharing solutions to tricky and common challenges facing local services.

Please note that all views expressed are those of the individual author, not of IHPN.

If you would like to discuss an idea for a blog or submit an article for consideration please email Megan Cleaver at [email protected]

IHPN marks third annual World Patient Safety Day

Date of publication: 17th Sep 2021

Categories: Independent Healthcare Voices

Patient safety remains the number one priority for independent healthcare providers, and IHPN are delighted to mark the third ever World Patient Safety Day – set up by the World Health Organisation to bring about global solidarity and concerted action to improve patient safety. Over the past few years the entire healthcare sector has seen a change in the approach and understanding of patient safety, with safety experts from across different industries coming together in the interests of patients and...

Community health services – are you ready for your close up? 

Date of publication: 10th Sep 2021

Categories: Independent Healthcare Voices

Much of what is written about healthcare in England understandably tends to focus on what is happening in hospitals and GP surgeries. We hear a lot less about the provision of community health services despite the fact that shifting more care out of hospital and into the community is one of the ambitions outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan. NHS England state that community health services will “meet the changing needs of the country over the coming decade”. It is fair to say that community health services are poorly understood - so, to correct that balance, here is a brief but close up look...

The right diagnosis? What will Community Diagnostics Hubs mean for local healthcare systems?

Date of publication: 15th Jul 2021

Categories: Independent Healthcare Voices

It is almost nine months since Professor Sir Mike Richards’ report, Diagnostics: Recovery and Renewal, was approved by the NHS England & NHS Improvement Board. This report paved the way to reimagine what diagnostics provision could look like in England - not only to build up much needed capacity but also to take a more innovative and patient centred approach to service design. The subsequent strategic ambitions for NHS diagnostic services set this out clearly - to deliver services that...

Safety through regulation – how the independent sector is playing its role in improving patient safety and quality

Date of publication: 14th Jul 2021

Categories: Independent Healthcare Voices

Read IHPN's Director of Regulation, Dawn Hodgkins reflections on IHPN's recent "Safety through regulation conference"  With the covid pandemic unfortunately leading IHPN to delay our annual “Safety through regulation” conference in summer 2020, it was great to finally hold the event this year and share our experiences on how the independent healthcare sector can continuously improve patient safety and quality across the healthcare system. The event, attended by over 100 independent healthcare representatives, began with Prof Ted Baker, Chief Inspector...

The healthcare landscape is changing - can Interim Management help manage change and seize opportunities?

Date of publication: 12th Jul 2021

Categories: Independent Healthcare Voices

Andrew Vaux, Head of Independent Health and Social Care  at Practicus, looks at whether Interim Management help independent healthcare providers manage change and seize opportunities in a changing healthcare landscape  Today’s reality is COVID is endemic and will need to be factored into healthcare planning such as prevention measures, capacity management and sustained vaccination programmes. Indeed, the response to the pandemic by healthcare providers is causing seismic shifts in how and where care is provided. This is reflected in the...

How can the independent sector support Sajid Javid’s burgeoning in-tray?

Date of publication: 30th Jun 2021

Categories: Independent Healthcare Voices

IHPN's Policy Director, David Furness, takes a look at what the key priorities will be for the new Health and Social Care Secretary, and how the independent sector can help him to deliver them Becoming Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and ultimately overseeing a £120bn+ health service which treats over a million patients every 24 hours is always a daunting task. But with a global pandemic that “has not thrown its last surprise at us”, an elective...

RTT data - a window on elective care recovery

Date of publication: 11th Jun 2021

Categories: Independent Healthcare Voices

IHPN’s Head of Acute Care Policy, John Hopgood, looks at why this month’s Referral-to-Treatment waiting times data carries particular significance for the independent sector. The monthly publication of data from NHS England this week carries more significance than usual. Not only is it our first chance to have a detailed look at activity since the start of the 2021/22 financial year (and the end of the National Hospitals Contract), but it’s also the biggest indication yet as to where recovery...

No Turning Back –Transforming Co-existence into Collaboration for the Long Haul

Date of publication: 19th Mar 2021

Categories: Independent Healthcare Voices

Andrew Vaux, Head of Independent Healthcare at Practicus, looks at how the partnership between the independent sector and the NHS that evolved during the pandemic can be sustained. The NHS has long turned to the independent sector when it needs additional capacity to manage waiting times and avoid penalties for missed targets. But the pandemic that was unleashed over the last year changed this relationship, at least for a while. As the impact of the rapid rise in Covid hospital...

How to respond to an adverse CQC inspection

Date of publication: 22nd Feb 2021

Categories: Independent Healthcare Voices

Peter Killwick from Verita looks at how independent healthcare providers can respond to an adverse CQC inspection and what they can do to improve patient safety and quality. The work of the CQC is crucial in both maintaining and improving patient safety and identifying  areas where performance is falling short of requirements. Our recent work with providers suggests that the CQC is developing a much closer focus on organisational leadership and the impact - positive or negative - that this...

How can clinicians and hospitals earn back the trust of patients in the wake of the Paterson Report?

Date of publication: 2nd Oct 2020

Categories: Independent Healthcare Voices

Lindsey Condron, Chief Executive at King Edward VII's Hospital, looks at how can clinicians and hospitals earn back the trust of patients in the wake of the Paterson Report. The Paterson Inquiry has been a wake-up call for all hospital leaders both in the NHS and private sector. The Inquiry found that Ian Paterson’s victims were “let down time and time again” by the surgeon, then by the hospitals where he practised and finally by the regulators, who failed to...