Written question asked by Lord Lansley (Conservative) on Monday, 10 November 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 12 November 2008. It was answered by Ben Bradshaw (Labour) on Wednesday, 19 November 2008 on behalf of the Department of Health.

NHS: Private Sector

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on whether patients will have to pay for the full cost of the NHS element if they wish to proceed with the private element in cases where it is impossible to separate a private element of a patient’s treatment from an NHS-provided element.

Answer: The draft revised guidance, published by the Department of Health on 4 November, sets out clearly the principles that should apply in circumstances where patients wish to purchase additional, private care. It says that:"““As overriding rules, it is essential that:""the NHS should never subsidise private care with public money, which would breach core NHS principles; and""patients should never be charged for their NHS care, which would contravene the founding principles and legislation of the NHS.""The guidance goes on to say that,"““in order to ensure that there is no risk of the NHS subsidising private care:""It should always be clear whether an individual procedure or treatment is privately funded or NHS funded.""Private and NHS care should be kept as clearly separate as possible.""Private care should be carried out at a different time and place. A different place would include the facilities of a private health care provider, or part of an NHS organisation which has been designated for private care, including amenity beds.""This guidance applies to additional private health care that patients receive over and above their NHS care. It does not permit a ““pick and mix”” approach where patients can pay to upgrade any individual elements of their NHS care.””"The guidance has already been placed in the Library.

Secondary information