Under new government plans announced by The Department of Health last week, NHS hospitals will soon be allowed to produce advertisements promoting their services and may make deals with sponsors. MP’s hope the move will raise standards of care through an increase in competition; however concerns have been raised about the effects of commercialising the NHS. Bob Ricketts is the director of system management and new enterprise at the Department of Health. He told the Times, “The NHS brand is very powerful and we are not going to let any commercial activity damage that.” The move will therefore be subject to many conditions limiting the type of sponsorship the NHS can undertake, for example companies linked to gambling, alcohol, tobacco, weight control or with political interests will be banned. Advertising campaigns which may promote facts such as low MRSA rates will not be allowed to compare to other hospitals.
Plans for ‘polyclinics’ which can cater for populations of up to 50,000 have recently been favoured by ministers, but lacking NHS funds mean that the government is increasingly looking to move towards privatising healthcare to improve the system. Ultimately, what this means for private health insurance customers is that an increasing number of health care facilities will give the option of private treatments, so people will have more choice and freedom of where to have their treatment. Health insurance policies such as cash plan policies already give the option of whether to choose an NHS or a private hospital to receive medical care, so this move will ultimately heighten this choice.