§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the volume of health care being purchased by the NHS from private hospitals broken down by health district and health specialism. [151875]
§ Ms StuartThe concordat signed between the National Health Service and the Independent Healthcare Association sets out a framework by which the NE-IS is best able to utilise the resources of the private, independent and voluntary healthcare sector locally to deliver better services for patients. That framework provides for local agreement in planning how and when to make use of these independent sector facilities and for monitoring the arrangements.
Any patient treated making use of the private or voluntary sector under the terms of the concordat remains an NHS patient and their treatment remains NHS treatment. Such patients remain the responsibility of the NHS.
Organisation-specific and condition-specific data are not collected centrally. However, the total amount of NHS funds spent on the provision of hospital and community services for NHS patients treated outside the NHS for the years 1996–97 to 1998–99 are as follows:
Year Total (£ billion) Percentage of NHS expenditure on hospital and community services 1998–99 1.25 4.8 1997–98 1.08 4.6 1996–97 0.87 3.8 Source:
Common Information Core, Outturn 1996–97, 1997–98 and 1998–99