(2) what recent assessment she has made of (a) Netcare’s experience in delivering healthcare services and (b) Netcare’s procedures for monitoring patients' satisfaction with Netcare’s delivery of healthcare services.
Private and voluntary health care providers are required to register with, and are inspected by, the Healthcare Commission. Providers are inspected against National Minimum Standards and Regulations for Independent Healthcare issued under the Care Standards Act 2000.
Reports of the Healthcare Commission's inspections of private and voluntary sector providers are published on its website at:
www.healthcarecommission.org.uk/homepage.cfm
In addition to the Healthcare Commission's regular inspections all independent sector providers that provide services to national health service patients through the Department's independent sector treatment centre (ISTC) programme are required to comply with key performance indicators (KPIs), which are enforceable contractually. KPIs cover a range of clinical and non-clinical processes to ensure proper governance of patient care and the provision of health care. Providers also conduct patient satisfaction surveys of the patients they treat and Netcare’s overall patient satisfaction is currently 97.8 per cent.
As part of the ISTC procurement process bidders are invited to negotiate and meet specific criteria including clinical services, finance, work force, information management and technology, and contract management.
Local primary care trusts are responsible for commissioning health services to meet the needs of their population, including the use of the independent sector providers. The six primary care trusts covering Cumbria and Lancashire are currently undertaking public consultation on the proposed clinical assessment, treatment and support (CATS) services for the region.