CBI issues private sector healthcare warning

Published on Sunday 5 April 2009 21:41

BUSINESS leaders have attacked the SNP government for refusing to countenance the greater use of the private sector in providing primary healthcare in Scotland.

In a hard-hitting submission to Holyrood's health committee, CBI Scotland dismisses what it says is the SNP administration's belief that using the private sector for the likes of GP services would put profits before patients.

The CBI has raised its concerns about the measures to limit private sector involvement in health, which ministers have put into the proposed Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Bill.

MSPs on Holyrood's health and sport committee are scrutinising the legislation, but a submission by CBI Scotland says patients could miss out on more "innovative" services that respond to their needs.

The business organisation says: "The Scottish Government appears to believe that involving the independent sector in the provision of NHS healthcare will lead to profits being put before patients.

"The CBI rejects this notion, and believes that a wider range of private and voluntary organisations are well positioned to deliver better services because of their experience and understanding of people's needs."

The submission adds: "Both sectors have the ability to deliver choice and satisfaction to citizens and communities. The Scottish Government will be letting down the public if it does not use them to the full."

The CBI's membership includes a "broad spectrum" of private healthcare firms providing services to the NHS across the UK, according to the submission.

Public health minister Shona Robison recently told the Scottish Parliament that 45 million made available by the previous Labour-Liberal Democrat administration to foster the private sector has been "repatriated" to NHS boards.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We recently announced a consultation on guidance to assist Scotland's NHS boards in managing arrangements for NHS patients also receiving private healthcare.

"It seeks to combine the rights of the individual with robust clinical governance and the founding NHS principle that treatment should be based on clinical need, not on the ability to pay, with NHS care free at the point of access. We will consider all submissions … and respond in due course."