NHS consultants can only do paid work in the private sector with the permission of their NHS employer and only if it does not cause a detriment to NHS care. As NHS waiting lists have soared during the pandemic, so has the demand for fee-paying private work, with waiting lists for treatment now also occurring in the private sector, a further pull on the loyalties of NHS medical consultants. This fact can only mean that last year a significant number of consultants were doing more hip and knee replacements privately than for their NHS employers, sincethere is only one pool of (mainly) NHS consultants to treat both NHS and private patients. Similar schemes are also in operation in the more controversial area of private cancer care. But the backlog of NHS care can only be addressed if NHS consultants are compelled to give priority to NHS patients and if the financial incentives used by multinationals to encourage them to do private work are fully disclosed with any potential conflicts of interests affecting patient care firmly prohibited.

Source: The Guardian January 22, 2022 06:53 UTC