Speaking today at a Laing and Buisson private healthcare conference in central London NHS Partners Network director David Worskett said the NHS must not put internal convenience ahead of patient care.

Responding to critics of the "Any Qualified Provider" policy, David Worskett said that NHS patients must be able to access the best quality care available at NHS prices if the NHS's commitment to quality was to become a reality. He said:

"There are now those  who are expressing doubts about the Any Qualified Provider policy. They are suggesting that if use of a new provider might destabilise other NHS services, which cross-subsidise each other, in a hospital for instance, then choice of the new provider may need to be restricted.

"That view is incompatible with the government's goal, restated by the Deputy Prime Minister this morning, that patients and quality must come first. If the government really means that, it needs to recognise that the "destabilisation" argument is tantamount to saying that patients may only be able to access second or third rate services if that is the way to protect existing cross-subsidies and inefficiencies. If a new provider offers the best value and quality, working to NHS standards and prices, the patient must be free to choose that provider.

" As a separate issue, the NHS needs to sort out its costing and pricing for internally delivered services and make sure that weak accounting and administrative convenience do not take precedence over giving patients the best quality care."  

Mr. Worskett added that ensuring these problems did not stand in the way of delivering quality services was one reason why a specialist sector regulator was needed, but strong, expert and impartial commissioning also had a key part to play.