NHS: Healthcare UK

Lord Walton of Detchant Excerpts

Thursday 14th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the noble Lord raises a pertinent issue in the context of medical trainees. We are addressing it. In particular, we are looking at a request from Saudi Arabia to send postgraduate medical trainees to this country. We believe that we have found a way through that, and will continue to work on that issue for the benefit of other countries as well.

[Lord Walton of Detchant]

My Lords, when the NHS began in 1948, most major hospitals had private wards and private consulting rooms. The great advantage of this was that they generated income which supported the care of NHS patients. The other advantage was that the consultants who were entitled to undertake private practice were geographically whole time. When the late Lady Castle was the Secretary of State, the Labour Government removed the private beds from NHS hospitals, resulting in a massive development of private wards outside the NHS. Are the Government now embarking on a programme to improve the facilities for private care in the NHS, thus generating more income for the support of NHS patients?

[Earl Howe]

I am sure the noble Lord will know that a number of our flagship hospitals already have private facilities which treat domestic and international private patients, including Great Ormond Street and the Royal Marsden. All such treatment of course takes place outside NHS provision. However, it is important to emphasise that Healthcare UK is about much more than private patients. In fact, that will not be its primary focus. It is about sharing this country’s expertise, technology and knowledge to support healthcare systems and infrastructure with international partners. Healthcare UK will provide support if there are NHS organisations wanting to bring patients in from overseas but that will not be its principal focus.