Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN)

It was great to see so much national media coverage on the NHS & Independent Sector Partnership Agreement yesterday, including stories from The Times, The Telegraph, Financial Times, The Guardian, and City AM, among many others!   Independent providers already treat millions of NHS patients every year, and this new agreement is a clear statement from government, the NHS and independent sector that we will be a critical part of the NHS’ long-term recovery and renewal.    The Partnership Agreement will help independent providers support the NHS to cut the backlog by making full use of existing capacity in the sector - ensuring that patients are offered proper choice of provider as well as supporting the sector to invest in, and deliver, an even wider choice of high quality services to NHS patients to bring waiting times, all delivered free at the point of use and paid for at NHS prices.   You can read the full partnership agreement here: https://lnkd.in/edUR8R9r

We’re delighted that the Prime Minister Keir Starmer today announced a new agreement between the NHS and the independent sector as part of the Government’s plans to end the hospital waiting list backlog.   Independent providers already treat millions of NHS patients every year, and this agreement builds on these strong foundations by making full use of existing capacity in the sector, ensuring that patients are offered proper choice of provider as well as supporting the sector to invest in, and deliver, an even wider choice of high quality services to NHS patients to bring waiting times down - all delivered free at the point of use and paid for at NHS prices.   Currently, fewer than a quarter of patients recall being offered a choice of hospital for their treatment and the agreement will also give patients in more deprived areas where NHS provision is more limited a greater choice over where they are treated.   As part of the new agreement, NHS England and the independent sector will:     📱 Work on aligning NHS and independent sector digital systems around a national set of standards so patients can more easily see appointments and results on the NHS App. 🤝 Encourage longer-term contractual relationships to be established, enabling further independent sector investment in NHS capacity.   🧑🎓 Work together to grow and develop the elective workforce, including ensuring training occurs consistently in the independent sector.   You can read more, including the partnership agreement in full, here: https://lnkd.in/edUR8R9r

Great to see the Government's announcement today that patients will be given more choice and control over their NHS care, with the NHS app to more clearly set out the different choices patients have of where they can receive NHS treatment, including in the independent sector. This will play a key role in cutting the NHS backlog - our recent research (https://lnkd.in/eD3eBWsZ) showed that patients in England could cut months off their wait for care by exercising their right to choose a different provider for their NHS treatment. Our analysis found that: ➡️ across England, patients need to travel on average just 12 miles – typically under 25 minutes by car – to cut 3 months off their waiting time. ➡️ Over seven in ten people (71%) would be happy to travel more than 30 minutes outside of their local area to get treatment more quickly. ➡️ Only 5% of people said they would not travel outside their local area to get quicker treatment from the NHS. ➡️ 96% of people in England live within a 30 minute drive of an independent provider, with people living in the most deprived areas of England just as likely to live near an independent provider as the general population. But with almost 1/2 of the public unaware of these rights, and less than 1/4 actually offered a choice, there's much to do to put patients "in the driving seat", and we look forward to continuing to work with the NHS and Government to make today's positive commitments a reality for patients.

IHPN are looking to hire a new Director of Policy, and applications close at the end of Friday 3rd January! If you’re a senior policy leader with an in-depth understanding of the UK healthcare landscape, come and join our fantastic network where you’ll have the opportunity to: - Lead the team in developing a compelling and high impact programme of proactive policy and influencing work which embeds independent sector healthcare into the fabric of service delivery and policy development at a national, regional and local level - Act as an external spokesperson for members and represent their views to politicians, civil servants, senior healthcare leaders, and the media - Build influential relationships with key players in the health system and across business, getting ahead of policy change and positioning IHPN effectively to key stakeholders You can find the full position description here: https://lnkd.in/grKWyyjV, and you can read more about the application process on the vacancies page of our website here: https://lnkd.in/gn5NbxzW Applications close Friday 3rd January 2025, with interviews taking place in-person on Wednesday 8th January and Thursday 9th January.

2024 has been a bumper year here at IHPN and it’s been great to share all our work – whether that’s our reports, media coverage, award wins, member events or member visits- with you all on LinkedIn! Overall our LinkedIn followers have almost doubled in the last 12 months, and our content has been seen well over 300,000 times, including 36 videos with a combined 56,511 views.     IHPN is only a 13-person team, but we've kept busy supporting our members across a huge range of areas – here are just some of the highlights!   🎉 We’ve held two of our biggest ever events – IHPN’s Annual Summit (https://lnkd.in/dssYYvrm) and our Annual Patient Safety conference with the CQC (https://lnkd.in/d9Gdk3JK);   🩺 We’ve continued our work to support safety and quality including through our MDT toolkit for providers (https://lnkd.in/dxtpz3_g), as well as introducing our Medical Practitioners Assurance Framework (MPAF) in Wales (https://lnkd.in/dXR3FYru).    Our research and analytic work has gone from strength to strength:   ⚕️ Publishing new quarterly data on NHS activity delivered in the sector (https://lnkd.in/eDUkSbwZ) which has received national media coverage (https://lnkd.in/dKqGR8ur)   📈 Releasing the second of annual Going Private report (https://lnkd.in/ed5myHng) into public attitudes around private healthcare (again receiving national media coverage -https://lnkd.in/eHwhppVd);   🌍 Setting out the sector’s vision for healthcare in the next 10 years through our “Tomorrow’s World” report (https://lnkd.in/gnNq5ms2);   🧑🎓 Publishing reports on our contribution to clinical training (https://lnkd.in/d8AA-jQk), as well as our role in delivering Community Diagnostics Centres (https://lnkd.in/d-MHj_qY)   🏆 We were extremely pleased to see all of our hard work recognised by winning the “UK Association of the Year” category at this year’s Association Excellence Awards.   The IHPN team would like to wish you all a merry Christmas, and the very best wishes for what will be a very busy New Year. See you all in 2025!

IHPN's Assistant Director of Policy & Programmes Danielle Henry recently visited InHealth's new Community Diagnostics Centre (CDC) in Denton, South East Manchester, where she met with Mike Date, Head of CDC Development and Engagement, and the wider team to see the great work they are doing to improve access to NHS diagnostics services in the area.   The CDC is ideally located in a retail site, making it much more accessible to the local community. And working with two local NHS Trusts means they are able to maximise the number of patients that can be referred - so important given the high levels of deprivation that can be found in the area. It's also great to from Claire Woodford, Project Manager at Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS FT, who spoke about how they are working with InHealth on a day to day basis - ensuring true alignment across a range of areas including workforce, clinical governance and patient safety.    A great example of the fantastic NHS/independent sector partnerships that exist up and down the country! 

The Government and NHS are currently consulting on their forthcoming 10 Year Plan for Health - part of their mission to “build a health service fit for the future”.   Independent providers play a vital contribution to the health of the country – supporting patients to prevent ill health through early interventions and health and well-being services, providing treatment to those who require elective surgery, and connecting hospital services back into the community through rehabilitation and other community support.   In our submission to Lord Darzi’s independent investigation of the NHS in England, we talked about the need to foster long term partnerships between the NHS and independent sector - including on the training of clinical staff - with a greater focus on ensuring patients can make the best choices around their care.   We therefore want to see the 10 Year Plan for Health enable this partnership working so that the NHS can make best use of the capacity, training and innovation the independent sector can provide which can improve patient outcomes.    You can view our submission here: (https://lnkd.in/ezyFduW6), and hear more from our Senior Policy Advisor Joshua Edwards on what we want to see in the 10 Year Plan for Health below.

IHPN Chair Seema Kennedy OBE Kennedy recently visited GenesisCare UK Elstree, where she was shown around their specialist radiotherapy outpatient centre, including a new and upgraded linac that has recently been installed meaning patients can benefit from precise and effective cancer treatment.    Seema met with GenesisCare’s CEO Justin Hely, and also had the opportunity to meet the dedicated team of professionals and see first-hand their expertise, compassion, and commitment to supporting patients undergoing cancer treatment.

Today’s figures show NHS waiting lists are still at record highs, with patients forced to wait far too long to get the treatment they need. With the recent commitment from the Government about reaching the 18 week NHS target within the next five years, it is clear that the Independent Sector will be vital to reaching this, with only 59% currently of patients currently seen within 18 weeks, compared to the target of 92%.    IHPN analysis (https://lnkd.in/eH6_MZgp) has found that overall NHS activity needs to immediately increase by around 21% of current levels to hit the 92% target, which we believe is stretching but achievable.   There are ways that the NHS can quickly use the independent sector to clear this huge backlog of care, including tackling the c90,000 appointment slots that are made available each month by the sector but currently go unused by the NHS, and which could increase the number of patients treated in the independent sector by 20%.   Read our full response to today's NHS figures here: https://lnkd.in/gUuPNf2Q

Brilliant to see so many of our members announced as finalists in the HSJ Events Partnership Awards 🎉 🎉 🎉 A huge congratulations to all those nominated, and great to see the shortlist for the first ever HSJ Independent Healthcare Providers Awards as well which we are a proud sponsor of. The full list of our members nominated are below and we look forward to seeing everyone at the ceremony in March 2025! HSJ Independent Healthcare Providers Awards: Practice Plus Group for Best Provider of Mental Health Services InHealth Group for Best Provider of Digital Healthcare Services and Best Provider of Diagnostics Services Ramsay Health Care UK for Best Provider of Digital Healthcare Services and Excellence in Clinical Innovation category Circle Health Group for Excellence in Clinical Innovation Everlight Radiology for Excellence in Clinical Innovation and Best Provider of Diagnostic Services Connect Health for Excellence in Clinical Innovation Primary Eyecare Services for Excellence in Clinical Innovation Alliance Medical Ltd for Best Provider of Diagnostic Services GP CARE UK LIMITED for Best Provider of Diagnostics Services PHL Synaptik for Best Insourcing Initiative (twice!) HSJ Partnership Awards: GP CARE UK LIMITED Care UK for Best Contribution to Improving the efficiency of NHS Services Practice Plus Group for Best Contribution to the Improvement or Urgent and Emergency Care Nuffield Health, in partnership with the Florence Nightingale Foundation and NHS England, for Best Educational programme for the NHS category EMS Healthcare for Best Elective Care Recovery Initiative Nuffield Health, in partnership with Manchester University FT, Northern Care Alliance, University of Manchester and University of Salford for Most Effective Contribution to Clinical Redesign Nuffield Health for Most Effective Contribution to Improving Care for Those with Long-term Conditions Nuffield Health, in partnership with Manchester University FT, Northern Care Alliance, University of Manchester and University of Salford for Most Effective Contribution to Integrated Health and Care Nuffield Health for Most Impactful Partnership in Preventative Healthcare Healthcare Management Trust, alongside Humber Health Partnership for Patient Safety Collaboration of the Year Primary Eyecare Services in partnership with NHS Manchester Royal Eye Infirmary for Primary and Community Care Project of the Year Spire Healthcare Group plc and NHS England for Best Elective Care Recovery Initiative Sulis Hospital Bath in partnership with Royal United Hospitals Bath FT for Best Elective Care Recovery Initiative Vanguard Healthcare Solutions in partnership with South Warwickshire University FT in the Best Elective Care Recovery Initiative category