Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN)

With David Furness stepping down from his role in the new year, IHPN are looking to hire a new Director of Policy.    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

As part of IHPN’s Private Primary Care series, we have been visiting a variety of our members to help people learn more about private GP services, why people use them, and what services are most sought after. A few weeks ago, Assistant Director of Policy and Programmes Danielle Henry visited Nuffield Health City Fitness & Wellbeing, at their location in the city. She was shown around the site by Customer Experience Manager Jhon Rivas and Clinic Manager Joanna Szczesnowicz, before meeting a some of the clinicians in the Nuffield Health City Fitness & Wellbeing team, including physiologist Luke Easton, and GP Dr Ashley Pickworth, who walked Danielle through the process for their popular health assessments, including how the blood tests are completed on site, the concierge service provided if the patient needs specialist care, and the active support the patients receives once they get back their full report. Thank you to the team for having us, it was a great visit and a really interesting example of more preventative primary care - taking a holistic view of patients’ health and wellbeing and providing quick access to a range of services

In light of the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday that the Government is committing to once again meeting the NHS’ 18 week target, our Director of Policy & Delivery David Furness has written a blog exploring in more detail what would be needed to achieve this goal and how the independent sector can support.   You can read it here: https://lnkd.in/eH6_MZgp

We are announcing today that our Director of Policy and Delivery, David Furness, will be leaving IHPN next February to join The Shelford Group as their new Managing Director.   David has played a pivotal role over the last six years in enabling IHPN to go from strength to strength - supporting our members through huge challenges including the coronavirus pandemic and wider changes to the healthcare landscape.   While we will all be sad to see David move on, we wish him all the very best in his new role!