Bed2bed
A new website wants to bring the NHS and private health care closer together
LAST October, the NHS announced a “concordat” with the private health-care sector, in a bid to relieve some of the pressure on its overstretched, underfunded service by moving patients into private facilities for elective surgery and other care. In practice, although communication between the sectors has improved, co-ordination is still far from smooth. Within the NHS, doctors' surgeries are overflowing with clients who have to wait, on average, just over four months for in-patient treatment, according to the King's Fund, a health-policy group. Meanwhile, more than one-third of the beds in private hospitals are empty at any given time. So how can private supply be made to meet public demand?
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Bed2bed”
From the June 30th 2001 edition
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