Private practice data publishes in July

The number of UK private procedures per consultant and patient stay lengths will start being published next month. Ultimately fees, patient satisfaction, reported outcomes and adverse event rates will also be made public.

The Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) is asking consultants working in private practice to approve their data on the number of procedures they have undertaken and patient stay lengths, as it gears up to publish data on some 1,000 private consultants at the end of July.

PHIN said that around 4,000 consultants, representing 40% of private admissions in the UK, have begun reviewing their private practice data on its online portal.

Under the requirements of the Competition and Markets Authority order, it will eventually need to publish performance data for all of the estimated 14,000 consultants admitting patients privately, including patient satisfaction information, reported outcomes and adverse event rates.

Fee information for an even wider group of consultants, including those who see only outpatients, is expected to be published next year.

Dr Andrew Vallance-Owen, chair of PHIN, said: ‘The publication of consultant-level private healthcare performance information is an important step in the journey towards greater transparency for private healthcare. Approving their measures will enable consultants to demonstrate the scope of their care to patients, contribute to public understanding of clinical quality, and drive service improvements.’

Commenting on the publication of the data planned for July, president of the Royal College of Surgeons Professor Derek Alderson said: ‘This is a major opportunity for the private healthcare sector to rally behind transparency and demonstrate genuine commitment to improving patient safety and reducing risk. We encourage all of our members to get behind this opportunity to review and approve performance data and take a lead on safety and transparency.’