21st August 2012

English NHS ‘Brand’ Could be Sold Abroad to Generate Income for Hospitals

Hospitals are to be encouraged by the government to sell their services abroad, setting up clinics with the famous NHS brand to pull in much-needed cash for the health service from overseas.

The scheme – which has been put together by the Department of Health (DH) and the UK Trade and Investment department (UKTI) – attracted immediate criticism from the Patients Association, concerned that in times of financial stringency at home, establishing overseas clinics would be a distraction too far and could undermine domestic healthcare standards.

But the government points to clinics that already exist, run by big-name NHS trusts with a reputation around the world, such as Moorfields Eye Hospital and Great Ormond Street children’s hospital in the Middle East. The government thinks there could be lucrative possibilities for NHS-standard healthcare services in growing markets such as India and China.

It also points to work that has already been undertaken by an NHS ambulance trust helping to set up emergency services in Libya, while Virgin healthcare and NHS GPs, are in collaborative discussions with Abu Dhabi about the provision of primary healthcare services.

UKTI and the DH think the NHS could learn from the success of some of the major American brands, such as the private Mayo clinics and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, which have established themselves abroad.

The health minister Anne Milton said the NHS would benefit and not suffer from the diversification:

“This is good news for NHS patients, who will get better services at their local hospital as a result of the work the NHS is doing abroad and the extra investment that will generate,” she said.

“This is also good news for the economy, which will benefit from the extra jobs and revenue created by our highly successful life sciences industries as they trade more across the globe.

“The NHS has a world class reputation and this exciting development will make the most of that to deliver real benefits for both patients and taxpayers.”

But critics of the healthcare reforms, already alarmed at the increased opportunity for private companies to take over parts of the NHS, are unlikely to feel comfortable about NHS hospitals drumming up private custom overseas.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, told the Independent: “The guiding principle of the NHS must be to ensure that outcomes and care for patients comes before profits.

“At a time of huge upheaval in the health service, when waiting times are rising and trusts are being asked to make £20 billion of efficiency savings, this is another concerning distraction. The priority of the government, hospital trusts and clinicians should be NHS patients.”

The DH said a newly constituted board called Healthcare UK would provide very careful oversight of any overseas clinics set up by the NHS. “Any activity proposed by NHS Trusts will be overseen by Healthcare UK,” said a spokesman, insisting that standards of healthcare at home would not be compromised. ]

(This article has been amended by MediWales.  For the original article, please click here)