INDEPENDENT HEALTHCARE
Independent sector’s role in building better health through NHS services
Enabling the independent sector to invest and deliver more NHS services is essential to the success of the 10-Year Health Plan, says the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, as it calls for a major step change in how the NHS works with the private sector.
With NHS finances set to be severely restricted in the coming years, greater private investment and partnership with the independent healthcare sector will be ‘essential’ to the implementation of the Government’s 10-Year Plan for Health, as well as their drive to reduce NHS waiting times, says the latest report from the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN).
The independent healthcare sector’s
support for the NHS in delivering frontline patient care is currently estimated to be equivalent to the activity of around 20 acute trusts, with independent healthcare providers now removing more than one million patients from NHS waiting lists every year. But with new investment needed across all parts of the healthcare system to tackle waiting lists and to shift care into the community, the IHPN is calling for a major step change in how the NHS works with the private sector, to both unlock capital investment and to build further capacity. This includes a greater role for the independent sector in financing new premises and equipment, alongside the ongoing delivery of NHS services to increase capacity and productivity. The IHPN report Building Beter Health
has been co-authored with Future Health co-founder and former Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Special Adviser Richard Slogget. It calls for a ‘Strategic Council for Healthcare Infrastructure’ to be established to provide cross-Government leadership and to accelerate efforts in bringing private
The independent healthcare sector’s support for the NHS in delivering frontline patient care is currently estimated to be equivalent to the activity of around 20 acute trusts.
investment into the NHS – including the development of new Neighbourhood Health Services, as well as building and running new services in historically under-served areas.
Calls for change Alongside the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, IHPN also calls for the Treasury to clarify current accounting rules to expand public-private partnerships across the NHS, noting that the current complexity is seen by many NHS leaders
as a blocker to further investment. Calling for an approach which goes ‘beyond bricks and mortar’, IHPN’s report highlights a number of areas where independent healthcare providers are already investing in both the development and running of new NHS services, including Community Diagnostics Centres where sites are open seven days per week and up to 14 hours per day, as well as new cancer centres and research hubs where NHS patients can access cuting edge treatment and clinical trials. With the 10-Year Plan for
October 2026
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