Health Services: Private Sector

(asked on 10th January 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to mandate private healthcare workers to work in NHS services in the response to the Omicron covid-19 variant.


Answered by
Edward Argar Portrait
Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This question was answered on 18th January 2022

We have no current plans to do so. New national arrangements between NHS England and 10 independent sector providers commenced on 10 January 2022 until 31 March 2022. Up to 3,000 staffed beds will be made available to the National Health Service to provide surge capacity in response to the Omicron variant. The arrangements will also enable NHS trusts to send a wider range of patients to the independent sector for treatment, including those requiring some forms of cancer surgery and other care not normally delivered by private providers under existing arrangements.

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