BMJ  2006;333:215 (29 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7561.215

News

MPs give independent treatment centres a poor report

Andrew Cole

London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The government's attempt to boost healthcare capacity by establishing a network of independent sector treatment centres offers no clear advantages over doing the same work in the NHS. This is the conclusion of the influential House of Commons health select committee.

And the committee warns that if the £5bn ({euro}7.3bn; $9.2bn) programme continues to be rolled out as planned it could destabilise some local trusts and result in the closure of a number of hospitals.

The first wave of independent sector treatment centres—private clinics that do a range of NHS elective procedures—was launched in 2003 with the aim of increasing capacity in the NHS, cutting waiting lists, and raising standards through greater competition. The government now plans to expand the number of centres from 29 to 46, with the aim of taking on 10% of all elective work in the next five years.

But having heard the views of . . . [Full text of this article]


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