HC Deb 08 June 2004 vol 422 cc143-4
14. Martin Linton (Battersea) (Lab)

What the estimated cost is of a hip replacement operation paid for by the NHS in (a) an NHS hospital and (b) the private health sector. [177298]

The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. John Hutton)

The latest figures indicate that the average cost of a primary hip replacement operation incurred by the NHS was £4,660 and that the cost outside the NHS was £6,848.

Martin Linton

I welcome my right hon. Friend's comments on the Atkinson Morley's site.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that those figures show why our health service is the n most cost-effective in the world and why thousands are coming back to the NHS every week?

Mr. Hutton

Certainly, the NHS is a very efficient health care system, as has been confirmed by international evidence and research. The costs of administering our national health service are lower than those of any other country or private sector provider.

Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York) (Con)

Of the hip replacements carried out in the NHS, how many are conducted by foreign-trained consultants, who are often foreign based and only temporarily based in the UK? Where the NHS is required to take action against such a consultant, how can it do so if they have returned to their home base?

Mr. Hutton

I shall provide figures for the hon. Lady on the specific point that she raises.

It is of course true that many of the surgeons who are employed in the NHS trained overseas. I hope that the hon. Lady is not suggesting that they are providing anything less than effective care for patients. As regards surgeons provided by the new independent sector treatment centres, it remains the case that the NHS is responsible for the care and treatment that is provided in those settings, as are providers, and proper arrangements are in place to ensure that there is insurance cover.

As for the standards of care that surgeons provide, they must all be registered with the General Medical Council on the specialist register, so they have exactly the same competencies and skills as our own UK-trained consultants.