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Press release: NHS Partners Network comments on Healthcare Commission's calls for comparable information to be collected on NHS providers

12 Sep 2007

Graham Kendall, acting general manager of the NHS Partners Network, said:

"NHS Partners Network (NHSPN) welcomes the call from the Healthcare Commission for comparable information to be collected and shared on all providers of healthcare to NHS patients.

"We believe that increasing patient choice based on clear, easy-to-understand information for patients and GPs will drive up quality and improve services for all NHS patients.

"Independent providers of NHS services have a strong story to tell with high patient satisfaction rates and low MRSA rates. The information made available to NHS patients about healthcare providers needs to be fair, comparable and easily understandable so that patients can assess the quality of provision and make informed choices about where they wish to be treated. 

"NHSPN supports calls to bring together all of the organisations that collect data on NHS services including the Healthcare Commission, Department of Health, the Information Centre and Connecting for Health. NHSPN is working with these organisations, and others, to improve the available data."

"We are working with all of these organisations and are looking for them to create a new, smarter and more streamlined dataset that is appropriate for modern healthcare delivered by a range of organisations in a variety of settings. This should go beyond duplicating existing datasets which have evolved over time and may no longer be as useful and appropriate as they once were".

Notes for editors

1. NHS Partners Network is an alliance of independent - both commercial and not-for-profit healthcare providers commissioned by the NHS to provide elective and diagnostic care to NHS patients free at the point of delivery. It was established in 2005 and became part of the NHS Confederation in June 2007.
2. Members of NHS Partners Network:  Alliance Medical, Capio, Centres for Clinical Excellence, Clinicenta, Care UK/Mercury Health, Nations, Netcare UK, Nuffield Hospitals, Partnership Health Group, Spire Healthcare and UK Specialist Hospitals.
3. The NHS Confederation represents more than 95% of the organisations that make up the NHS. Its members include the majority of NHS acute trusts, ambulance trusts, foundation trusts, mental health trusts, primary care trusts, special health authorities and strategic health authorities in England; trusts and local health boards in Wales; and health and social service trusts and boards in Northern Ireland.

Contact details

Contact Media Relations Officer Niall Smith on 020 7074 3304 or 077 6777 0309. For out of hours media enquiries, please call the Duty Press Officer on 07880 500726.

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