Private Acute Healthcare Conference 2018

Any conference should aim to deliver a roster of speakers who will provoke your knowledge or teach you things you didn’t know.

As a result, LaingBussion brought to the stage of Wimpole St, some of the leading industry executives from insurers, operators and clinicians to discuss what the future holds in store for the Private Health Sector and how best to prepare for it.

Challenging Times

Firstly, it was alluded that currently, private healthcare is facing some challenging times.

• Insurers were finding little growth in the number of insured, rising costs and fierce competition
• Operators previously seen as relatively secure, have seen some reduction in the last year
• International patients no longer appear to keep the market afloat
• And the hope for self-pay, at least from a sector perspective, appears to be still mainly that. Hope.

Governance

Issues of data transparency and outcome-measurement appear absorbed within a broader issue of governance.

As a result, Dr Andrew Peel, BrowneJacobson, highlighted the case of disgraced breast surgeon Ian Paterson and the gravity of Dr Patterson’s conduct within the sector – A topic we have previously discussed on the blog (How well do you know your surgeons?)

Specialties

The afternoon took an in-depth look into the opportunities available in fertility, cosmetics, mental health, oncology and orthopaedics.

Furthermore, Philip Luce, Bupa Cromwell explained the advances made in joint replacements using ERP. Likewise, Ben Gooding, Circle Health, demonstrated how a changed workflow drives improved PROMS outcomes for hip and pain surgery.

The digital future

In the context of today, Martin Bell, LaingBuisson, covered the opportunities for private providers and insurers to support the delivery of ‘Digital Healthcare’. Whilst the NHS is still focussed on doing the basics, Private practices should be aiming for:

• Digitising their hospital services
• Introperability and integrating with the NHS (if relevant)
• Ensuring key clinical systems are in place for patient safety and satisfaction, operational effectiveness and regulatory compliance
• Filling the gaps, via digital, often created by NHS funding challenges

Building relationships

Finally, the conference finished with the opportunity to reconnect with peers and meet new colleagues and suppliers within the healthcare sector. And taken all together, made an enjoyable and rewarding day.

If you didn’t manage to speak to us during the day and would like to find out how Compucare could help you achieve your digital objectives, you can request a free demonstration or speak to an adviser on 01522 872000