On 14 December 2010, the OFT announced its plan to launch a market study into the private healthcare market (the 'Study'). The Study is being launched as a result of the OFT's initial research and information from market participants which suggests that the market may not be working well for private healthcare patients.
The private healthcare market is worth more than £5.5 billion. The OFT notes that private healthcare is growing in importance due to the ageing population and higher life expectancy. Sonya Branch, the OFT's Senior Director of Services and Public Markets, said that the OFT was "keen to establish whether patients and buyers of private healthcare services, including the NHS, [were] getting the full benefit of choice and competition".
At this time, the OFT is seeking views on the proposed scope of the Study ahead of its formal launch next year and in particular, whether the issues it is proposing to look at are the right ones. The Study is expected to focus on the following four areas of concern:
- market concentration amongst private healthcare providers at the national, regional and local levels;
- barriers to entry or expansion of market participants;
- restrictions on the ability of consultants and other medical professionals to practice; and
- constraints on the way in which consumers access information and make choices relating to private healthcare.
The Study is intended to cover the entirety of the UK, with the OFT also exploring the private healthcare markets in the US, Sweden and the Netherlands, where there have been recent initiatives in relation to patient choice.
The OFT will be contacting key parties directly; other interested parties should submit their views on the Study's proposed scope by 1 February 2011. The formal launch of the Study is expected to take place in Spring 2011, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2011.
To view Community Week, Issue 502 - 17 December 2010 in full, click here.
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