During the surge phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the private health sector demonstrated its willingness and pace of response to make available all private facilities for use by all citizens of the United Kingdom. Providers of private healthcare have been supportive of this and pushed for the principle that during the surge phase of the pandemic, treatment should be based on clinical need rather than willingness to pay. Elective and non-urgent treatments have been delayed, with only urgent treatment – such as for cancer – continuing during the period.
As we emerge from the lockdown and COVID-19 cases decline, elective private hospital treatment is beginning to resume. During this transitional phase, and reported in the press, there remains some uncertainty on the extent to which the private sector will support the NHS in processing the backlog of treatments caused by the pandemic. This would be short-term, and of key importance is ensuring optimal use of capacity within private and NHS hospitals. Discussions are ongoing with the Independent Hospital Private Network (IHPN) to enable private provision to be made available to policyholders, while allowing private hospital capacity to be available to support the NHS – where sustainable and necessary – going forward.
Hospitals are investing in infection management, including additional cleaning, PPE and staff-testing. In addition, patients being admitted for elective treatment will need to undergo COVID-19 testing and self-isolate for 14 days prior to admission. While these additional steps will impact the efficiency of hospitals, the industry is confident that the private healthcare system has capacity to accommodate these changes without a significant impact on waiting lists.