Fourteen primary care trusts in Manchester were forced by government pressure to meet waiting list targets to spend nearly £2million on paying the South African company Netcare to run an independent treatment centre [ITC] to perform operations.
The ITC in question performed only 4000 out of 6000 operations it had been contracted to do; this was probably because in the era of Patient Choice patients chose to have their operations done at an NHS establishment that they trusted. Netcare argued that it was not the ITC’s fault that it under-performed. The response of one PCT director suggested that therefore unwitting patients would thenceforth be propelled towards the ITC – and where is the choice in that?
Source:
In the Back, Private Eye, no. 1149, 6-19 January 2006.
