Newsnight has found that NHS patients who have been referred to private care for hip and knee replacements fare better than the patients who receive treatment on the NHS for the same procedures. This took into account age, gender and race. There is currently only enough data to compare outcomes for these two procedures, however the outcome does not come as a surprise.
Private care quality is better than public
The analysis uses a dataset called ‘Proms’, which was recently recommended by the economist of the King’s Fund.
The patients responded to detailed and in-depth health-related questions before the operation and afterwards. The comparison of the two results measured how well providers who were paid a similar amount to treat patients with similar conditions did in relation to each other.
Though private care has beat public care in this category, it is important to note that for different treatments the NHS may provide better individual services.
Nevertheless, the above news only justifies the gradual outsourcing of the NHS to private companies in hopes of better long-term results.
Researchers are currently seeking more data in order to consolidate their findings and confirm whether the result is replicated in other treatments and sectors of public and private health care.
