An update from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) – August 2023
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)’s Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order 2014 includes measures to increase the availability of information to patients on both consultant fees and the performance of consultants and private hospitals. To achieve this, private hospitals and consultants are required to provide information to the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN). The CMA has published an open letter explaining that it is now escalating its public enforcement action against non-compliant private hospitals and consultants. PHIN has provided an update as to compliance by the trauma and orthopaedic sector below:
While there had been good progress across the sector towards delivering the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Order, there is further work to do with the CMA – recently expressing some disappointment regarding the amount of engagement necessary to achieve compliance to these legal obligations thus far.
All consultants who provide services to private patients need to submit fee information to PHIN, both for consultations and for procedures. Those fees should be submitted via PHIN’s Portal.
PHIN will publish the fees, alongside information on the volume of activity that each consultant performs and the average length of stay for each procedure. At present, PHIN only publishes such data when consultants indicate that they are correct.
From Autumn 2024, PHIN will publish this information in the following circumstances:
- a consultant has either verified their data
- a consultant has not indicated that there are any issues with the data that has been submitted to
PHIN by the private hospitals where you work.
In the meantime, PHIN strongly encourages all consultants to review the data that has been submitted by hospitals about their practice in the Portal, so that you can either verify it or raise data issues for relevant hospitals to review and fix.
So, how are Trauma and Orthopaedics consultants comparing with colleagues in other specialties to full compliance?
|
|
Using current version of the PHIN Portal |
Fee information submitted for both consultation and procedures |
Created profile on PHIN’s website |
Verified procedure volume and length of stay data |
Consultants with patient feedback |
Performance of consultants with patient feedback score > 95% |
NJR link on PHIN website |
|
Trauma and Orthopaedics |
70% |
72% |
66% |
43% |
37% |
43% |
72% |
|
All other specialties |
64% |
61% |
51% |
26% |
20% |
47% |
|
Our specialty is progressing well, but we will need to do more to ensure that we are achieving full compliance.
The team at PHIN is available to support you through the processes and you book at session with PHIN by contacting them at [email protected]