"Future of Healthcare" report released

Private healthcare providers sets out their vision for the “future of healthcare”

Private healthcare providers are today launching their vision for the future of healthcare and what it will mean for providers working in the sector.

Based on insights from almost 20 sector leaders and other healthcare experts, the Independent Healthcare Providers Network’s new report, “Tomorrow’s World”, anticipates that having weathered the pandemic and now delivering record levels of care to both NHS and private patients, the sector’s role will continue to grow in importance over the coming years and become an even more integral part of the UK health system.

The report looks at the next decade for healthcare from three perspectives – the future for patients, the operational future, the commercial future – and identifies a number of key developments and trends independent providers expect to see in the coming years. These include:

• Patients being placed at the heart of their care with the future healthcare system built around choice, whether that’s around choosing how they pay for it, who treats them, where that treatment takes place, and what their care pathway looks like. Central to this is the provision of more accessible information including around the quality of services, strong outcomes data with easy-to-navigate platforms to support and empower patients, and increased use of digital technologies to bring healthcare into the home, as well as at the hospital.  

• Shifting care “upstream” with a much stronger presence for independent providers in the primary and community care space to meet the growing demand for more preventative healthcare. Closer integration with NHS services was also cited to ensure a seamless patient pathway – with the potential role for “care coordinators” to support the growing numbers of patients access care in both the NHS and independent sectors.

• The development of an array of new insurance options to meet the needs of patients who want greater choice and flexibility in how they access their healthcare, including ‘PMI light’ products for particular parts of the pathway such as diagnostics, and an ability for employers to offer a range of insurance benefits for their workforce. The need for longer term commissioning and contracting cycles in the NHS was also identified as a way of helping unlock new investment from the sector and facilitate more “innovative” care for NHS patients.   

David Hare, Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), said:

“With a new Government and forthcoming ten year plan for health, it’s the ideal time for the sector to come together and set out their vision for what the future of healthcare looks like and how they can better support increasing numbers of NHS and private patients.

“This report sets out just some of the ways that members and sector thought-leaders think healthcare delivery is likely to transform in the years ahead, whether that’s their relationships with the NHS, the way that patients as consumers seek to manage their health in new and emerging ways, or the types of care and support the sector provides.

“While the future is not set in stone, IHPN and its members see the independent sector playing an ever more crucial role in the healthcare of the nation in the years ahead, with empowered and informed patients at its heart”