Three quarters of employees (76%) think that their employer should do more for its people in relation to employee benefits, according to new research by Benenden. In addition, paid-for healthcare and pension schemes have been voted the most valued benefits by employees.
Laing and Buisson report that overall penetration of the UK population by private medical cover is at the lowest rate in more than 20 years. Demand for individual private medical insurance continues to decline, while company-paid PMI returned to modest growth.
Dr Nick Summerton has told GP magazine that NHS access to endoscopy is so poor that patients should have the opportunity to pay for faster private tests. His comments come after GP magazine found that many patients wait months for tests such as colonoscopy.
After receiving approval from the High Court, Simplyhealth's acquisition of the UK PMI business of Groupama Healthcare, first announced in August 2011, has been completed.
A study by the London School of Economics (LSE) of 2 million patients has suggested that competition between NHS hospitals has led to "moderate but statistically significant" reductions in patients' length of stay. The study shows how this would have produced "non-trivial savings" for these hospitals.
The Association of Medical Insurance Intermediaries (AMII), the PMI brokers trade association, has said it is "bemused" by the star ratings system used by Defaqto to rank PMI products. The AMII noted that PMI is a complex product which requires specialist advice when being bought.
Private hospitals depend on PMI and self-paying patients for the majority of their income. However, in the five years up to 2010, this source dropped from 65% of their income to 59%.
A change to the health bill going through Parliament will allow foundation hospitals to raise 49% of of their income from private patients. Currently, most foundation trusts are limited to a couple of percent of their income from non-NHS work.
After a year-long investigation, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) intends to refer the £5bn a year private healthcare market to the Competition Commission. The OFT notes several features which "prevent, restrict or distort" competition.
All patients in England have the right to choose their hospital. However, it now appears that the growth in NHS patients being sent to private providers via Choose and Book slowed dramatically in 2011.