Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that the contracting out of healthcare provision to the private and charity sector does not lead to fragmentation or waste in NHS provision.

Ben Gummer

Our position on who should provide services is taken to ensure patients receive the best possible services and outcomes. These decisions are taken by the local clinical commissioning groups, which are clinically led and therefore best placed to act for the benefit of their patients.

Competition for quality, on the basis of fixed national tariffs, is one of a number of tools available to commissioners to drive greater integration in healthcare provision across the National Health Service.