The major news in the Independent Sector is the new strategy by BUPA Insurance of which is encompassed in its “ BUPA Insurance Initiatives”. If fully implemented these would lead, in the opinion of many, to a Managed Care scenario in the Independent Sector and a complete change in the whole p...

8th February 2006 in the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum, London. Over 50 consultants from MACs and specialist organisations attended this Council meeting. Reports on this meeting have been circulated to subscribing members. There was considerable concern expressed about developments in pr...

The FIPO Board has been modified with an expanded group to take account of the increased membership of FIPO. Both the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland and Society of British Neurological Surgeons have agreed to join FIPO and will propose a representative to sit on the FIPO Boa...

Although the recent Laing and Buisson survey shows that private medical insurance subscriptions are being maintained this year this is not reflected by the experience of many consultants as many around the UK have noted a decline in their private practice.  Mr Derek Machin (FIPO Board member and...

Although quoted periodically in the national press, the NERA report, which suggested that British Consultants are paid more than their contemporaries aboard, has now been refuted. In a detailed economic analysis produced by the British Medical Association (BMA) Health Policy and Economic Research...

Consultants and others will have noted a series of articles in the Financial Times, the Times and other newspapers which have suggested that the advent of ISTCs and foreign contractors will lead to a collapse of private practice. There seems no doubt that independent practice in the UK may face a...

The announcement by the Nuffield Group that it was changing its position in the market and looking to contract more with the NHS has been followed by other providers. Capio, like the Nuffield, has now signed up for a large orthopaedic contract with the NHS at prices which some other providers bel...

The IHF came into being to replace the old Independent Healthcare Association (IHA) with an inaugural meeting on 17 May 2004. Several industry speakers presented at the meeting and a programme for the organisation was announced. Although some hospital provider groups have not joined (Nuffield and...

The Department of Health (DoH) recently announced that a group of ten ISTCs referred to as the “spine chain” in central and northern England has been awarded to Capio UK the independent group. Mercury, and its parent company Tribal, were awarded only five new ITCs in the South East. There app...

The new NHS tariffs which have set fixed prices for almost 30 surgical procedures have been announced. It would seem that private sector costs for common operations are some 40 % higher. The Times reported a hip replacement costing on average £4,660 in the NHS but £6,848 privately. Leading hosp...