Private Healthcare Information Network – improving transparency in safety and quality in private healthcare across the UK

31 May 2018

This summer the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) will begin publishing patient volumes and average length of stay for consultants working in private healthcare. They are doing this in line with legal requirements set out in the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) Private Healthcare Markets Investigation Order 2014, as part of a wider programme of work to improve transparency in safety and quality in private healthcare across the UK.

Since November 2017, PHIN has invited consultants to review the information that PHIN have received about their activity from hospitals where they admit patients privately. This includes both independent and NHS hospitals where patients are treated privately. We have asked consultants to review their data and to notify their hospitals of any data inaccuracies. Updated information from hospitals should include any data corrections.

From 5 June 2018 PHIN will ask consultants to preview information about two performance measures that PHIN will publish on their website. These are volume of patients seen and length of stay for the procedures performed. Consultants will be asked to review and sign-off information for each hospital where they see private patients, alongside information about their NHS practice, supplied by NHS Digital, which can be approved alongside the private data to give a full practice view.

The publication of safety and quality indicators is a real opportunity for consultants to demonstrate the scope of their private practice and the quality of care received by their patients. PHIN will only publish these measures for consultants who have reviewed and approved their measures for publication.

The PHIN portal can be accessed at https://portal.phin.org.uk and consultants can input their GMC number to start the set-up process. The system will then email a temporary password to the email address provided to them by the GMC.

Further details about PHIN and supporting information can be found on their Consultant Guide. If you encounter any problems activating your account, the PHIN team can be contacted at consultants@phin.org.uk