Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN)

Over recent years, there has been considerable progress in the amount of information submitted to PHIN about privately-funded inpatient care.  

At the end of 2024, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) officially confirmed that PHIN had achieved its ‘bronze’ milestone in the delivery of the Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order. This is a welcome development and represents considerable investment by providers both by developing internal systems to collect and submit information, and through the direct funding of PHIN itself. 

Crucial components to achieve the Bronze milestone included publication of significantly more information about consultant activity for patients, and the publication of more information about adverse events, discussed in the previous section. 

PHIN, together with NHS England, has also been leading the Acute Data Alignment Project. The Acute Data Alignment Project (ADAPt) was originally conceived to: 

• Promote the completeness of patient records across NHS and private care. 

• Improve the visibility of patient data relating to the healthcare quality, particularly where care is received across different providers. 

• Reduce the burden upon NHS trusts and independent healthcare providers in relation to data and reporting. 

Following the completion of pilot studies, progress on ADAPt in 2024 was less rapid than we would have hoped. In part this was due to outstanding information governance issues relating to how information would be used after it left independent providers. Progress was also affected by plans to integrate ADAPt into the ORP programme.  

IHPN, and our members, remain committed to the objectives of ADAPt, and we look forward to a resumption of progress in this area over the next year.