The figure of 15 per cent. is not a target but a level of service that the independent sector might be providing by 2008. The number of procedures in any one year will vary depending on the actual case mix that is required by the local national health service. Contracts are designed to allow for this flexibility and therefore no action is required by the Department.
Our initial analysis on a range of factors relating to the 2005-06 financial positions of national health service organisations has shown that there is no strong relationship between NHS financial performance and any single factor.