Independent sector providers took on more NHS-funded work as use of privately funded health care faltered

24 May 2013 10:43 AM

Over the first decade of the 2000s, rapid growth in public health spending was matched by a slowdown in the growth of private health spending. At the same time, an increasing volume of publicly funded care was delivered by the private sector – meaning that the NHS became a major client for many private healthcare providers. Over the 2000s the number of NHS-funded hip and knee replacements rose by a half whilst there was fall in the numbers of privately funded procedures.

These are among the main findings of a new report published recently by researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Nuffield Trust. The report forms part of a joint programme of work between the two organisations entitled “Understanding competition and choice in the NHS”.

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