Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the letter of 24 March 2020 from NHS England and NHS Improvement entitled COVID-19: Partnership working with the Independent Sector Providers and the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, what the cost to the public purse has been of NHS agreements with Independent Sector Providers to secure all available inpatient capacity and resource; and what estimate he has made of the (a) cost to the public purse and (b) size of the unused capacity and resource secured.

National Health Service patients are benefitting from an unprecedented partnership with private hospitals as we battle the COVID-19 outbreak. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the independent sector to secure all appropriate inpatient capacity and other resource across England.

The addition of around 6,500 additional beds has increased NHS capacity and ensured that facilities are available for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 whilst ensuring continuity of service for non-COVID-19 patients requiring elective activity, including cancer and other urgent treatment.

Under the agreement, latest figures show that from 30 March until 30 August 2020 over 967,000 NHS patient appointments have taken place within independent facilities at an estimated cost of approximately £1billion.

It is not possible to estimate the cost to the public purse and size of the unused capacity and resource secured.