Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what clinical regulation measures are in place to ensure that care and treatments provided by private medical insurers are the most appropriate for a specific patient.

Private medical insurers do not provide care or treatment. However, they do purchase services from independent sector providers who are responsible for delivering healthcare. All providers of healthcare undertaking regulated activities, as defined in Schedule 1 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, are regulated by the Care Quality Commission, and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality, while the health and care regulators are responsible for regulating health and care professionals.

Regulations 9 and 12 of the 2014 regulations set out the importance of person-centred care, and safe care and treatment. These regulations have the intention of ensuring that people using a service have care or treatment that is personalised specifically for them, preventing people from receiving unsafe care and treatment, and thereby precluding avoidable harm or risk of harm.