Abstract
Clinical commissioning groups (CCG) have been replaced with ICBs that will bring together NHS and social care for the local population. ICBs are allocating contracts for long waiters for total hip replacements (THR) to hospitals that have achieved pre-covid volumes of THR, THR volumes undertaken by hospitals in 2022 should be at 2019 levels or more.
Purpose of this study was to identify whether NHS hospitals in England are at a disadvantage in procuring ICB contracts for THR.
THR volumes for NHS and independent sector (IND) hospitals from January 2012 to November 2022 were identified via National Joint Registry. Regional and national trend for THR volumes were identified for both NHS and IND hospitals using linear regression analysis.
Trends of THR for NHS hospitals showed either stagnation or reduction in volume from 2014–2019. In 2022, nationally THR volume of NHS was 70% of 2019 (Figure 1). Trend of THR volume for IND hospitals nationally was a strong uptrend from 2012 to 2022 with a break only in 2020 due to COVID pandemic (Figure 2). Since the pandemic IND have overtaken NHS hospitals in volumes of THR undertaken. Similar picture of trends evolves when THR trends were assessed on a region by region basis.
With NHS hospitals not back to pre-pandemic THR volumes, IND hospitals have a distinct advantage in securing more contracts via ICB. This in turn puts NHS hospitals at risk of taking on more complex and medically unwell patients potentially worsening NJR outcomes for NHS hospitals.
The reasons for the lag in NHS hospitals’ THR volumes are multifactorial, not limited to continued bed pressures, increased emergency and unplanned admissions, staff shortages and sickness, pension taxations preventing doctors from undertaking more THR. However, lack of access to contracts from ICB will put NHS hospitals at huge financial and existential risk for elective care.
For any figures or tables, please contact the authors directly.
