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June 2023 Issue 153
INDEPENDENT PRACTITIONER TODAY
A guide to bidding for NHS contracts
The business journal for doctors in private practice
In this issue
Attributes of a good PA
Dawn Shrives provides the answer to the question ’What does a good PA look like?’ P14
Time to beef up IT security
Solicitor Aoife Ryan reports on what private doctors should do to bolster their cyber security to avoid ransomware attacks P18
£12.50
n See page 41 Brains that work outside the box
The different talents of neurodiverse staff can be an asset to business P21
Drive to boost London By Robin Stride
A boom in overseas patient num bers is being forecast for private doctors in London under a new initiative to present the city as the ‘go to’ destination for independent healthcare. Private hospital providers, col laborating on phase one of the pro ject, have attracted support from the Department of Business and Trade and, if successful, then it could be widened to promote other areas of the UK. One of the team involved told Independent Practitioner Today: ‘What we are intending to do is to put London on the medical tour ism map in a much greater way than it ever has been before. ‘So the idea is we bring in a lot more international work into London in markets where we are not currently operating.’ Other past initiatives to increase the international patient footfall in London had proved disappoint ing. But Elizabeth Boultbee, head of global markets at the London Clinic, added that she was confi dent in the project’s success. ‘The difference in this is the pro viders and the chief executives have got together and said “we want to make this happen”. They have provided funding, the initial funding for the project manager. ‘And we haven’t been that pro tective about our knowledge. We
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What we are intending to do is to put London on the medical tourism map in a much greater way than it ever has been before
Elizabeth Boultbee have been willing to share, we are willing to collaborate, which is what’s making the big difference. It is a new age of collaboration. ‘There are still lots of patients coming to London, but there are a lot more out there in markets that are relatively untapped and none of us have really any big presence in.’ The groundwork for the initia tive involves bosses from the Cleveland Clinic, Cromwell Hosp ital, HCA, King Edward’s VII Hospital, the London Clinic and Phoenix Group, plus private pro viders in the NHS: Imperial and Chelsea and Westminster. Schoen has also taken part. London is reckoned to be 15th by revenue in the league table of destinations for overseas patients. The aim is to bring it up to tenth within three years. Project manager Michael Barker told this journal he believed inde
pendent practitioners would wel come the results because: ‘It will keep them busy with all sorts of interesting things to do.’ He gave further details of the venture, by what has been named the London International Health care Council (LIHC), at Laing Buisson’s Pr ivate Healt hcare Summit 2023, calling it ‘a super exciting collaborative’ – with a special formula. His outline was well received. ‘The most important ingredient is not just about collaboration but getting Government support,’ he announced. ‘What we’ve been able to do over the last seven months is lobby the Department for Business and Trade. We have got them on side and they are willingly helping us now with a whole range of differ ent connections into our choice markets that we think we want to engage in. ‘They are offering to help us with the marketing as well, creating an offer document…which t hey
would create around UK health care. ‘They have experience of export ing UK talent but very little of importing it in, so there is a good sense of synergy between the Department and providers.’ Mr Barker said the group had set out to be ‘very inclusive’ of provid ers and had contacted ‘masses’ of those operating in the London market. Some decided not to join, but those who had were having a longterm strategic look at how they could start getting people around the table to really brand London and get patients coming there for treatment. By the end of phase one, in September this year, providers are expected to have agreed minimum standards they will abide by. Phase two will see them beginning enter ing their first or second market of choice. LIHC will act as an access plat form with providers pitching for work from patients. Mr Barker said 97% of the work from interna tional sources in the UK came to London, but the project was not limited to scaling the model up just there. The group had started with ‘one or two’ markets, which he could not yet declare publicly, and at least three or four others were tar geted to follow. n See page 4 and page 6