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In this blog, Martin Hogan shares his experience of working as an agency nurse and how different behaviours can impact on the safety of both staff and patients.  

In this BMJ Opinion article, David Rowland from the Centre for Health and the Public Interest discusses why he thinks the Independent Inquiry into the issues raised by Paterson is yet another missed opportunity to tackle the systemic patient safety risks which lie at the heart of the private hospital business model. David believes that although the Inquiry provided an important opportunity for the hundreds of patients affected to bear witness to the pain and harm inflicted upon them it fundamentally failed as an exercise in root cause analysis.   None of the “learning points” in the final report touch on the financial incentives which may have led Paterson to deliberately over treat patients. Nor do they cover the business reasons which might encourage a private hospital’s management not to look too closely. Yet these concerns about how the private hospital system works and the associated patient risks it produces had been established in a number of previous inquiries.   He suggests that the Inquiry report threw the responsibility for managing patient safety risks back to the patients themselves in two of its main recommendations but that it should be for the healthcare provider first and foremost to ensure that the professions that they employ are safe, competent and properly supervised, and for this form of assurance to be underpinned by a well-functioning system of licensing and revalidation by national regulatory bodies.

The Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN) has produced a short film explaining what can be expected from independent healthcare. The Patient Association were involved in this project to help clarify patients’ expectations of private healthcare, supporting them in their decision making.

The independent inquiry into how the rogue breast surgeon Ian Paterson was able to inflict harm on patients over more than decade described the UK healthcare system as “dysfunctional at almost every level.” In this BMJ analysis, Gareth Iacobucci summarises the findings of the inquiry.

You're still entitled to free NHS care if you choose to pay for additional private care. This guidance from the NHS outlines how receiving both private care might affect treatment on the NHS. It looks at the following points: What does 'as clear a separation as possible' mean? Receiving private and NHS care at the same time What treatments can my doctor tell me about? What if I have complications?

This guidance by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) provides guidance on how to proceed in situations where NHS patients want to buy additional secondary care services that the NHS does not fund. Key messages: NHS organisations should not withdraw NHS care simply because a patient chooses to buy additional private care. Any additional private care must be delivered separately from NHS care. The NHS must never charge for NHS care (except where there is specific legislation in place to allow charges) and the NHS should never subsidise private care. The NHS should continue to provide free of charge all care that the patient would have been entitled to had he or she not chosen to have additional private care. NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts should have clear policies in place, in line with these principles, to ensure effective implementation of this guidance in their organisations. This includes protocols for working with other NHS or private providers where the NHS Trust or Foundation Trust has chosen not to provide additional private care. Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) and Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) should work together to ensure that the guidance is being implemented properly in their local areas.