NHS patients will be sent for private cancer checks under plans to speed up treatment by opening more clinics in shopping centres and high streets.
Rishi Sunak wants to see more outsourcing of care to private companies to clear “huge” healthcare backlogs, with cancer diagnostics among the first areas to be contracted out.
Tens of thousands of people are waiting for cancer examinations amid warnings that delays in diagnosis are likely to lead to a surge in deaths while the health service struggles to recover from the pandemic.
Officials plan to test privately run diagnostic centres in an effort to entice companies to invest in scanners and staff to check more NHS patients. If successful, thousands of patients could be sent for private checks later this year.
The prime minister will meet private healthcare bosses in Downing Street today as part of a forum to find fresh ideas for the NHS. He is known to be keen to revive a Blair-era focus on patient choice and competition to raise standards, which have largely withered in recent years.
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Sunak is looking at ways to expand private provision to areas of care while insisting that doctors remind patients of their right to choose where they are treated, including private hospitals.
He said this week: “We’re comfortable with the NHS using more independent capacity, if that’s what it takes to get patients quicker and better care.”
The move is likely to widen a split within Labour, where Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, has supported an expansion of private treatment for NHS patients, to the dismay of the left of the party.
Cancer diagnosis fell by a third at the start of the pandemic. Although hospitals are treating more patients than ever, they are struggling to keep up with demand as more people come forward with symptoms.
Professor Pat Price, an oncologist and founder of the #Catchup with Cancer campaign, said Britain was facing “the worst cancer crisis ever”.
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She said: “Tens of thousands of cancer patients will die unnecessarily, all because there is no organised plan to get them their treatment on time. It is clear that private sector capacity can, and should, be made available to the NHS to help clear waiting lists. But this is not happening at the scale needed.”
Although private hospitals were used to treat cancer patients at the start of the pandemic, the arrangements have not continued, despite lengthening delays as performance deteriorates.
Just 68.5 per cent of people referred for urgent cancer checks received a diagnosis or all-clear within 28 days, against a target of 75 per cent. Only 60 per cent of those given a diagnosis began treatment within two months of a GP referral, the worst performance on record, and below the 85 per cent target.
NHS chiefs have been relying on “community diagnostic centres”, billed as one-stop shops for scans such as MRIs, x-rays and ultrasounds, blood tests and other methods to detect illness more quickly. They were designed to take the pressure off hospitals but most are in NHS facilities. There are doubts about how much extra capacity they have provided.
Ministers are considering inviting private companies to run the centres to ensure greater access in high streets.
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A health source said: “We have a particular set of pressures with cancer so there is more that can be done to bring in the private sector. We are looking at, can we get the private sector to build and run [the centres] and get them rolled out in a short space of time.”
The drive is modelled on Labour’s creation under Tony Blair of “independent treatment centres” that cared for millions of patients in the 2000s.
David Hare, of the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, said: “Early diagnosis of cancer is critical in helping to ensure successful treatment. This is why it is important that as much diagnostic capacity as possible is made available to NHS patients free.”
