Responding to Labour’s announcement around a profit cap for independent sector providers delivering NHS services, David Hare, chief executive of the NHS Partners Network (part of the NHS Confederation), said:
"Independent sector providers deliver high quality NHS care to large numbers of NHS patients every year and work closely with commissioners to ensure they deliver the best possible services.
“Across the country these productive relationships are helping the NHS to respond to the challenges of a 21st century health system and mean that patients receive timely access to treatment and tests supported by the tens of thousands of staff employed by independent sector providers.
“It is important that any new policies enable NHS commissioners to work with the independent sector to invest in extra NHS capacity and introduce the kind of service transformation imagined in the NHS Five Year Forward View.
“Independent sector providers would want to work with any future Labour government to mitigate any risk or unintended consequences that could arise from the introduction of a profit cap and ensure that NHS patients continue to benefit from the services provided by the independent sector."