PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
Is partnership working in the NHS under threat post-Covid? T
he National Audit Office has concluded that, despite the exceptional circumstances in dealing with Covid-19, “standards of transparency” had not been “consistently met” in the way private sector contracts were awarded during the first wave of the pandemic. Independent providers of health and care services to the NHS and local authorities have spent many years building partnerships, shared processes and trust to provide high-quality services to health systems, their patients and staff. What impact has the past six months had on those relationships? As we emerge next spring – and the hard work of rebuilding not just our health system but our whole economy begins – will we look back and think it has been a positive catalyst for greater cross-sector partnerships? Or do some of the crisis manoeuvres we have seen pose a longer-term threat to the very notion of partnership? Opinion among service commissioners seems to be split. While some view the crisis as a unique situation bringing opportunities for new types of conversation with external parties, others have adopted more of a siege mentality during Covid-19 and are unresponsive. Rightly so, there has been plenty of reporting and public conversation about the heroic response of NHS front line staff
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to Covid-19. However, there has been far less recognition of the contribution from other parts of the system – the unsung heroes who ensure that the most vulnerable people still receive community support; that people are being discharged safely and efficiently back home or to other care settings; or the independent providers who signed up to a block contract to backfill NHS care in a bid to support the front line Covid-19 effort. ZPB brought together a group of senior leaders in the independent health and care sector – from community services to acute providers, outsourcing giants and staffing providers – to discuss some of these issues. By collecting these experiences during this critical period, we hope to highlight future challenges and the unintended consequences of the UK’s response to Covid-19 as well as to share ideas on how these challenges could be addressed. The following shifts and trends were identified by the service providers as consequences of the health and care sector tackling the pandemic: z The impact on public services has meant that provider interactions with commissioners have changed significantly. While this is inevitable during a time of crisis, there is widespread concern that the
HealthInvestor UK • December 2020
