Extending patient choice to NHS diagnostics hubs could save public purse over £500m

A new report out today has found that extending patient choice and enabling independent providers to open new NHS Community Diagnostics Centres (CDCs) across England could allow the public purse to reallocate in excess of half a billion pounds of capital spending on alternative priority initiatives.

It was originally envisaged that independent providers would play a key role in delivering the initial tranche of CDCs as a way of rapidly expanding testing and imagining capacity across the country, however, just 7% of these new community hubs are run by the independent sector.

Analysis by IHPN found that if one third of all current CDCs had been independent sector-led it would have resulted in a reduction in capital spend of approximately £500 million – a significant number given the current strain on the public capital budget and which could have been reallocated to alternative priority initiatives. Figures from the National Audit Office showed that the NHS hospital maintenance backlog alone has doubled since 2014 from £4.7 billion to £10.2 billion.

Extending patient choice to diagnostics and using contracting models such as Any Qualified Provider (AQP), which is currently used in NHS elective (planned care), would make it easier for local areas to utilise independent sector capacity, rather than bids for new CDCs being signed off centrally as is currently the case.   

As the NHS looks to implement “phase two” of its CDC programme, IHPN are also calling for assurances that new hubs will be located in the community rather than on hospital sites. This is in light of figures which show that only a handful are located on high streets and other local places as originally intended.

The industry body for independent healthcare providers also want to see more information published on CDCs around waiting times and activity and patient satisfaction, to ensure that the programme is meeting its objectives to improve patient access to vital testing and imaging services. IHPN also want to see greater transparency on the productivity of CDCs, with the ability for new providers to come in and operate at those sites where productivity levels are consistently low.

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

“Community Diagnostics Centres (CDCs) have the potential to revolutionise the way patients can access the tests and scans they need – providing swift, modern, facilities in the heart of their local community – and already, we are seeing the fruits of this work, with overall diagnostics activity having increased in the last few years.

“However, with waiting times for patients continuing to be at record levels, it’s vital that lessons are learned as the NHS looks to expand the provision of these hubs, including through making better use of independent healthcare providers who have long played a key role in delivering accessible, high quality NHS diagnostic services.

“By opening up patient choice to CDCs, and enabling new independent sector facilities to be established for the benefit of NHS patients, significant new additional diagnostics capacity would be created without the need for additional public capital spending, putting greater power in the hands of patients to access efficient, safe diagnostics services at their convenience.”