IHPN responds to latest NHS performance stats and NHS CEO's comments on private capital investment in the NHS

Responding to today’s NHS performance stats showing that NHS waiting lists remain at 7.5 million, David Hare, Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), said:

“These figures show that the NHS will need to rapidly increase the amount of activity it delivers if it is going to have a chance of meeting the Government’s manifesto commitment to once again meet the 18 week target.

“As NHS England’s CEO Amanda Pritchard has made absolutely clear, maximising use of both the independent sector’s capital and capacity is going to be critical in achieving this target and putting the NHS on more sustainable footing. Last year independent healthcare providers removed over 1.5 million people from NHS waiting lists and are keen to make an even bigger contribution through investing in new services – committing to investing over £1bn of new capital into the NHS in the short term alone – and significantly more in the long term – to develop new diagnostic and surgical facilities and extend existing capacity for the benefit of NHS patients.

“We will be working closely with the Government to ensure the principles contained in the recent NHS & Independent Sector Partnership Agreement are fully embedded – enabling the health service to get back on track to meeting it’s number one priority of meeting the 18 week target once again and ensuring patients can get the treatment they need, when they need it.”