IHPN responds to new NHS funding for 2 million extra appointments

Responding to the announcement from The Treasury that there will be new funding to kickstart delivery of two million extra NHS appointments, David Hare, Chief Executive of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), said:

“This new funding is clearly very welcome and needs to be quickly deployed to start to get NHS planned care waiting lists down from current record highs.

“Independent sector providers across the country stand ready to diagnose and treat the millions of patients waiting for treatment in hospital and in the community, ensuring that the taxpayer gets maximum value from this investment. This should include making use of around one million slots every year which the independent sector makes available to the NHS at NHS prices but which currently go unused.

“Moreover, given that public finances are hugely stretched, there is a real opportunity to go even further and make good on the government’s pre-election commitments of working in partnership with the private sector over the long-term. This includes taking advantage of the sector’s commitment 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.”