News from Independent Practitioner Today
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Watchdog probes private healthcare's methods
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
The OFT has referred the market for privately funded healthcare services in the UK to the Competition Commission for further investigation.
50p tax cut is too late for doctors
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
Chancellor George Osborne’s cut in the 50p top tax rate has come too late for hundreds of independent practitioners who say they have been forced to abandon their business plans.
Soaring ambition
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
Consultants from The London Clinic scaled new heights at the Arab Health Exhibition and Congress 2012.
Thanks a million!
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
HMRC has signalled no let-up in its campaign to squeeze every last drop of tax owed by doctors.
High tax prompts doctors to take drastic action
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
The 50% tax rate and other HMRC changes have hit private doctors harder than most ever imagined. Some, having seen a 78% tax take on marginal profits if growing their businesses, are selling their practices. Others are escaping the worst by incorporating
Costs of private care drive patients abroad
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
Private doctors in the UK are losing millions of pounds worth of potential custom because patients are opting to travel abroad for cheaper treatment.
You’re in good company
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
There are around 2,000 consultants in the UK now who have incorporated their private practices – and they have been reaping the tax advantages.
Bupa defends its fee cuts
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
Bupa says revisions to its Schedule of Procedures are needed to ensure that coding reflects current complexity, time taken and necessary competency levels.
Revitalising revalidation
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
Appraisals and revalidation are, admits new Independent Doctors Federation (IDF) chairman Mr Ian Mackay, not exactly popular with all doctors.
Cementing the deal
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
Cancer Partners UK expects its new cancer centre at BMI The Park Hospital, Nottingham, to open in July
Budget’s pensions relief
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
Independent practitioners have welcomed their escape from feared changes to pensions and higher tax relief in the ‘granny tax’ Budget.
Seek self-pay market, says hospital boss
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
The boss of the UK’s biggest private hospital group has advised would-be and existing private doctors they need to capitalise on the potential of the self-pay market.
Assent for healthcare reform is golden opportunity
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
Medical marketing advisers predict a new wave of opportunities for private consultants and service providers following the Health and Social Care Bill’s royal assent.
Book a consultant by using your smartphone
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
An iPhone app for GPs helps them quickly choose a specialist and book patients for a consultation, diagnostics or treatment.
Aspen buys into special eye care
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
Aspen Healthcare has acquired a majority shareholding in the Midland Eye Institute.
Surgeons hail bank’s PIP pay-off
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
Surgeons have welcomed a UK credit card company’s decision to fully re-imburse a PIP implant victim the entire cost of her original breast augmentation.
Private sector is too disjointed
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
A leading commentator on private healthcare has criticised a ‘remarkable absence’ of a joint approach by doctors, hospitals and insurers to promote the sector.
HCA retains ethical accolade
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
HCA, the world’s largest non-governmental hospital organisation, has been named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the third year running.
Check indemnity if doing volunteer work abroad
Posted on: Friday 6th April 2012
Doctors volunteering to give their services free abroad are being warned to check their indemnity arrangements.
Private surgeons use mobile units to cut NHS waits
Posted on: Wednesday 18th April 2012
Surgeons at Spire Liverpool Hospital are using a mobile operating theatre from Vanguard Healthcare due to growing demand for operations on NHS patients.
Bid to grow market
Posted on: Tuesday 6th March 2012
A huge package of patient-focused initiatives to attract private healthcare business to consultants in London has been unveiled by the capital’s biggest independent hospital provider.
Industry group set-back
Posted on: Tuesday 6th March 2012
A question-mark hangs over the future direction of the body set up only 28 months ago to promote private hospitals, following the departure of its boss.
HMRC enters lion’s den
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
HMRC’s increasingly intensive pursuit of private doctors is leading it right into the lion’s den – BMA House, London.
Surgeon & entrepreneur sets his eyes on UK market
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
A surgeon’s specialist eye surgery company, which has developed a network across Birmingham, London and Manchester by working with selected optometrists, is recruiting more practitioners to take the offering nationwide.
Eye hospital pioneers cataract laser op
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
A new laser treatment that dissolves cataracts in the eye has been introduced into the UK by The London Eye Hospital, Harley Street.
Will private hospitals be hit by a training levy?
Posted on: Tuesday 13th March 2012
Is the Government going to impose a training levy on private doctors?
Rise in mobile use spurs MDU advice
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
Nearly a quarter of UK doctors (24%) now use apps (specialised software programs) at work, according to an online survey by the Medical Defence Union.
Ensure patient confidentiality in using apps
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
Apps-using doctors and others have been issued with new advice from healthcare communications charity d4.
Find a clinic on a smartphone
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
Patients on the go can search for clinics and book discount appointments with over 5,000 London doctors and healthcare professionals using an app.
Hospital boss calls for an end to loyalty payments
Posted on: Wednesday 7th March 2012
Private hospitals should stop giving financial incentives for consultants to work with them, according to an independent hospital group.
PIP clinic tactics attacked
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
Surgeons have denounced clinics who put pressure on PIP implant victims to buy more surgery when trying to get the devices removed or replaced.
Five-star treatment
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
Olympian Kelly Sotherton got a run-out in front of orthopaedic specialists and GPs when she launched Spire Little Aston Hospital’s Perform service, which aims to make it a leading regional player in the physiotherapy field.
Huge expansion for London Bridge CCU
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
London Bridge Hospital has opened a new and expanded critical care unit (CCU) to make it the largest private critical care provider in the South-east.
IDF head wants closer ties with insurers
Posted on: Wednesday 7th March 2012
The new chairman of the Independent Doctors Federation has spoken of his wish to see closer liaison fostered between private doctors and insurance companies.
Taxman rings the changes
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
Independent practitioners who have incorporated and use smartphones such as iPhones and Blackberries are ‘quids in’ following a taxman’s concession.
Charities benefit from trek
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
Following an appeal in Independent Practitioner Today for recommendations, four charities have been chosen to benefit when a group of finance experts climb Africa’s highest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, later this year.
Writing on wall for VAT returns
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
HMRC is reminding doctors with VAT-registered businesses that all VAT returns must soon be submitted online.
Cancer service for North-west
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
BMI The Alexandra Hospital has announced its is the first in the North-west to provide a non-surgical treatment for liver cancer.
Patients give HCA hospitals good ratings
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
Record high levels of patient satisfaction have been voiced for HCA’s six leading London hospitals.
GMC website to help doctors with health problems
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
The GMC has launched a website for doctors concerned about their own health or that of a colleague.
Bottoms up
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
Consultant gastroenterologists Dr Brian Saunders and Dr Julian Teare encouraged their endoscopy teams at The London Clinic to dress loudly to raise awareness of bowel cancer.
BMI surgeons’ charity
Posted on: Monday 5th March 2012
The sole survivor of a brutal Congolese rebel attack met Sarah, Duchess of York when she thanked surgeons at BMI The Alexandra Hospital, Cheadle, Cheshire, for treating him for free.
It’s time to focus anew on growth
Posted on: Wednesday 7th March 2012
The HCA's commercial director Keith Biddlestone talks about the thinking behind his organisation's new push to expand the market.
Doctors urged to act before tax relief is axed
Posted on: Friday 24th February 2012
Speculation is mounting that tax relief on pensions contributions will be restricted in the Budget.
PIP scandal: now treat your image
Posted on: Wednesday 15th February 2012
Doctors with a private practice are being advised to think hard about how they can protect their business from collateral damage in the wake of the Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) scandal.
A new face
Posted on: Wednesday 15th February 2012
Your waiting room is your shop window, so what you hang on the wall says a lot about your ethos
NHS patient income is now ‘as good as it gets’
Posted on: Wednesday 15th February 2012
Incomes for independent practitioners treating NHS patients in private facilities may be reaching a cyclical high, a market analysis suggests.
Backs to the future
Posted on: Wednesday 15th February 2012
An international team of spinal surgeons in Britain’s first private centre for endoscopic spine surgery is providing a unique service to patients’ lumbar disc problems.
Pension curb to cut £165k from your pot
Posted on: Wednesday 15th February 2012
Many doctors are still unaware of impending Government changes which could cost them hundreds of thousands of pounds in their retirement.
Patients to quiz fee
Posted on: Wednesday 15th February 2012
Insured patients are being advised to get consultants – especially anaesthetists – to be upfront about their fees before they commit themselves to treatment.
Being open is key to dodging PIP implant fallout
Posted on: Wednesday 15th February 2012
PIP implant scandal: The reaction. A protest march on Harley Street, angry patients venting anger at surgeons, weeks of excruciating publicity ... industry insiders give their take on how private practice can learn from the experience
‘Don’t hide’, say PRs fielding flak
Posted on: Wednesday 15th February 2012
Now make your presence felt – the worse thing you can do is to go quiet.
Surgeons call for ban on adverts
Posted on: Wednesday 15th February 2012
British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons’ president Mr Fazel Fatah said it was ‘an absolute joy’ to hear the Government will examine lax regulations in the sector.
Review to look at log of device outcomes
Posted on: Wednesday 15th February 2012
NHS Medical Director Prof Sir Bruce Keogh’s inquiry into safety arrangements for people seeking cosmetic interventions will not report until March 2013.
Any excuses will shatter patient trust
Posted on: Wednesday 15th February 2012
The Independent Doctors Federation has warned that any reluctance by surgeons to help their patients affected by PIP implants will damage doctors’ reputation and patients’ trust.
Nuffield’s plan to prevent a repeat
Posted on: Wednesday 15th February 2012
Nuffield Health is urging industry support for its ten-point plan to prevent the occurrence of similar PIP scandal, including:
Let’s implant a plan
Posted on: Wednesday 15th February 2012
Good risk management communication could have avoided the PIP scandal, and its concomitant confusion and recrimination, argues Peter Walker
Bid to boost quality mark
Posted on: Monday 6th February 2012
The independent healthcare sector trade body is to launch a ‘patient pester power’ campaign to pressure cosmetic injectables providers to join its quality mark ‘Treatments You Can Trust’ register.
Bupa and BMI settle derecognition row
Posted on: Sunday 5th February 2012
Thirty-four BMI hospitals delisted by Bupa are now back on the insurer’s recognised lists.
Website boasts big search function
Posted on: Sunday 5th February 2012
A new website www.consultant-search.co.uk claims to be the first site with a ‘search by diagnosis’ function to help patients choose from a list of medical specialists.
Watchdog inspection may take most of the day
Posted on: Monday 6th February 2012
Private clinics can expect to write-off the best part of a whole day if they get a spot-check from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Insurers aim to eradicate false claims
Posted on: Sunday 5th February 2012
Doctors can expect an increasing number of phone calls from insurance companies as the industry seeks to root out fake claims for whiplash injuries.
GMC fees to be reduced
Posted on: Sunday 5th February 2012
Doctors will soon pay less for their GMC annual retention fee.
Aspen ups stake in clinic
Posted on: Sunday 5th February 2012
Aspen Healthcare has increased its stake in The Edinburgh Clinic, set up only four years ago by a radiologist and his GP wife.
Private practice’s biggest event
Posted on: Sunday 5th February 2012
Big issues affecting doctors in private practice will be examined next month at arguably the biggest private practice event of the year.
Buy equipment now to beat capital allowance cuts
Posted on: Monday 6th February 2012
Private doctors should think seriously about bringing planned business expenditure forward in the next few weeks, accountants say.
GPs' college calls for health bill withdrawal
Posted on: Friday 3rd February 2012
The Royal College of General Practitioners has called for the complete withdrawal of the Health and Social Care Bill.
Seek self-pay shoppers
Posted on: Tuesday 3rd January 2012
Independent practitioners are being urged to launch their own ‘January sales’ drive at GPs to try and tap in to a new breed of self-pay shopper.
New heights
Posted on: Tuesday 3rd January 2012
Consultants from The London Clinic brought their fundraising for charity Prostate Action to a staggering £1.3m with a Himalayan trek.
Diagnostic centre opens
Posted on: Tuesday 3rd January 2012
The £7m first phase of The Harley Street Diagnostic Centre has opened its doors to patients. It will eventually have 60 consulting rooms divided into suites for groups of specialist doctors.
Merit awards hit by tax hike on pensions
Posted on: Monday 2nd January 2012
Consultants have been shocked to find their hard-earned clinical excellence awards (CEAs) could be eroded by a 50% tax hit.
CyberKnife treats 300th patient
Posted on: Tuesday 20th December 2011
The UK’s first robotic CyberKnife radiotherapy machine, at The Harley Street Clinic, central London, has just treated its 300th patient since it was commissioned two years ago.
Taxman plays tough
Posted on: Monday 2nd January 2012
Doctors have been shocked to receive letters from the taxman erroneously claiming they have not filed their tax returns.
Doctors quit early
Posted on: Monday 2nd January 2012
A sharp rise in the number of consultants taking voluntary early retirement in 2011 reflects growing dissatisfaction about changes underway in the NHS, believes the BMA.
Law on jobs to be eased
Posted on: Tuesday 27th December 2011
Doctor employers and their managers will have to swot up on a new raft of employment laws under Government proposals.
VAT attack on vanity ops
Posted on: Friday 30th December 2011
Tax experts are appealing to independent practitioners who could be affected by a VAT attack on cosmetic treatments to get in touch.
Rise in spot checks on clinics
Posted on: Tuesday 27th December 2011
Independent practitioners are facing an increased likelihood of an unannounced inspection in 2012 from the healthcare watchdog the Care Quality Commission.
Doctors urged to check billing
Posted on: Tuesday 3rd January 2012
Independent practitioners are being advised to keep on top of their finances in 2012 by implementing a financial review of their 2011 billing compared to 2010.
Quality mark has new watchdog
Posted on: Friday 30th December 2011
Patients checking out private doctors’ clinics on the voluntary ‘Treatments You Can Trust’ register are expected to be able to have greater confidence in their choice in future.
Spire reveals its PPU plans
Posted on: Monday 2nd January 2012
Investment in NHS private patients units (PPUs) is ‘a very positive step for the UK healthcare system’, according to hospital group Spire Healthcare.
Avant-garde service is a tour de force
Posted on: Monday 2nd January 2012
A new London clinic is offering patients appointments with French as well as English-speaking doctors.
Royal opening
Bupa pledges a boon
Posted on: Tuesday 3rd January 2012
Ten thousand consultants who have now signed up to be Bupa partners are set to see more patients from the insurer.
Call for private sector to pull together
Posted on: Tuesday 3rd January 2012
The boss of the Private Hospitals Alliance (PHA) has called on the private healthcare industry to work together if it wants to secure growth.
PICU marks Portland’s peak
Posted on: Monday 2nd January 2012
London’s Portland Hospital for Women and Children has opened the most up-to-date private paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in Europe.
Private clinic’s study drive
Posted on: Friday 30th December 2011
The London Clinic has launched an Advanced Therapies Centre to provide ‘innovative treatment choices’ for patients by supporting clinical trials and enabling access to novel therapies.
Fifth of legal cases due to no consent
Posted on: Friday 30th December 2011
Up to 20% of clinical negligence claims in plastic surgery involve, at least in part, allegations relating to consent to treatment, according to the Medical Defence Union (MDU).
Future shape of hospitals
Posted on: Monday 2nd January 2012
Britain is on the cusp of a significant migration of NHS secondary healthcare services which will head out of acute hospitals and into more dispersed community settings, according to research from healthcare market intelligence provider Laing & Buisson.
‘NHS getting too commercialised’
Posted on: Tuesday 27th December 2011
Government guidance on GP commissioning gives commercial firms an in-built advantage and appears to be ‘yet another worrying step towards an NHS focused on commercial priorities’, the BMA’s GP leader claims.
IT system geared to NHS reforms
Posted on: Tuesday 20th December 2011
Eye specialist SpaMedica, Manchester, is the first independent healthcare provider to benefit from a new Choose and Book-compliant patient administration and records system.
Cryotherapy pod now open for the general public
Posted on: Friday 30th December 2011
The UK’s first whole-body medical cryotherapy pod is operating at BMI The Garden Hospital, London, through a joint partnership with specialist provider CryoClinics.
NEWS IN BRIEF (DECEMBER-JANUARY)
First private unit to get Macmillan cancer award
Posted on: Friday 30th December 2011
Spire Hartswood Hospital in Brentwood, Essex, has announced it is the first UK private unit to receive the Macmillan Quality Environment Mark (MQEM) for both its breast care and oncology services.
Bupa justifies tough stance referral policy...
Posted on: Tuesday 15th November 2011
Bupa has robustly defended plans to launch an open referrals process for its Corporate Select customers in January under which GPs would no longer refer to a named consultant.
...Critics say Bupa's strategy is 'high-risk'
Posted on: Tuesday 15th November 2011
Independent Doctors Federation chairman GP Dr Jack Edmonds said the new process was likely to exclude the best – and thus often the more expensive – specialists. It would break the link between consultant and GP.
Plastic surgeons told to shun ads inducing surgery
Posted on: Monday 14th November 2011
Members of the British Association for Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS) have been warned they will be investigated if they get involved in media promotions that induce surgery.
Ingenious solution to phobia of scanners
Posted on: Wednesday 9th November 2011
Bupa Cromwell Hospital has installed an Ingenia 1.5T MRI scanner designed to create a calming atmosphere.
Medical indemnity is a minefield, report shows
Posted on: Friday 4th November 2011
Specialists need independent advice before deciding whether to change their medical indemnity provider.
Spire acquires health check scanning firm
Posted on: Friday 7th October 2011
Private hospital group Spire Healthcare has acquired Lifescan Ltd, a leading independent provider of CT health checks, in a £1.3m deal.
Bupa compromises over knee op forms
Posted on: Friday 2nd September 2011
Bupa has offered consultant orthopaedic surgeons an alternative to filling in knee arthroscopy medical review forms to gain approval to confirm funding eligibility.
Shun social media contact, says BMA
Posted on: Friday 2nd September 2011
Doctors are being advised by the BMA to reject Facebook requests from current or former patients because of possible problems if the boundaries in the doctor-patient relationship become blurred.
Doctors slam discount ops
Posted on: Thursday 7th July 2011
Plastic surgeons have condemned the marketing of serious medical procedures such as breast augmentation and nose jobs via popular online discount website Groupon.
‘Majority’ filling in Bupa vetting form
Posted on: Friday 8th July 2011
The vast majority of knee consultants are said to be participating in Bupa’s arthroscopy medical review, despite criticism of the scheme from leaders of bodies who represent them.
Tackling unexplained variations
Posted on: Friday 8th July 2011
The rate of knee arthroscopy among our customers is more than double the rate of that in NHS patients, a Bupa medical director points out
Private referrers are ‘stuck in their ways’
Posted on: Thursday 7th July 2011
Independent practitioners may not be offering patients the best referral choices, as most are reluctant to research external medical units, a new study claims.
'TrueBeam' arrives in UK
Posted on: Friday 8th July 2011
HCA Hospitals has claimed a UK first by installing the world’s fastest linear accelerator.
Mileage test case starts...
Posted on: Wednesday 15th June 2011
A consultant physician is set to be at the centre of an all-out assault by the medical profession to win recognition of independent practitioners’ mileage claims.
Free subscription
Posted on: Wednesday 19th May 2010
New clients of PPM Software are benefiting from a free subscription to Independent Practitioner Today.
Healthcode offers free subscription to IPT
Posted on: Tuesday 23rd March 2010
A free subscription to Independent Practitioner Today is on offer to new subscribers to ePractice manager, Healthcode’s secure practice management software package for independent practitioners.