Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to conduct an impact assessment of the effect on NHS services of NHS trusts' commercial relationships with private enterprises.
The National Health Service bodies which commission private health treatment are generally local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), and payment to providers would normally be by patient treatment episode, and vary according to what treatment is involved, and the specific arrangements between the CCG and provider. There are also circumstances in which providers of NHS care may sub-contract the care they have been commissioned to provide.
In the financial year 2016/2017, 7.7% of total NHS Revenue Expenditure was on private healthcare providers. This is the same percentage as was commissioned in 2015/16.