(Bloomberg) -- Almost one in five planned National Health Service operations in England where a patient is admitted to hospital are being carried out in private facilities, according to new data.
Private hospitals are consistently providing 10% of all elective NHS care, as the state-run health service turns to outsourcing to tackle long waiting lists. That proportion rises to around 18% for more complex procedures.
The independent sector is taking on an increasing role in tackling the NHS’s backlog that exceeds 7.5 million appointments, according to data from the Independent Healthcare Providers Network.
Outsourcing care to private hospitals is controversial in Britain, with critics arguing that businesses profit at the expense of the health service’s budget. However, the NHS is using private capacity in particular for procedures such as hip transplants or cataract surgery.
The new Labour government has pledged to utilize capacity in the private sector, calling it the pragmatic approach, even though the party’s supporters tend to favor an entirely state-run service. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said his longer-term plan is for the NHS to have more capacity so it doesn’t have to pay for private surgeries.
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