Heart patients treatment pledge

Health secretary Alan Milburn was yesterday due to announce details of a programme to offer patients who have been waiting for heart surgery for more than six months treatment in another NHS hospital, at a private hospital, or abroad.

He was launching a consultation document which asks trusts to assess their levels of spare capacity for heart operations, and to bid for cash to treat extra patients who have reached the six-month limit from this July.

Meanwhile, Department of Health officials are drawing up an exhaustive list of the comparative costs of treatments and procedures in the NHS and the private sector in an attempt to drive down the costs to the health service. The move follows concerns voiced by Mr Milburn that private healthcare companies operate a 'virtual monopoly' and that charges are too high because they are mainly covered by insurance premiums.

NHS managers and clinicians will have access to a 'national framework for hospital pricing' to ensure they can negotiate on 'a level playing field' when buying treatments from elsewhere in the NHS, from the private sector or abroad, a DoH spokesperson said.