Private funding of elective hospital treatment in England and Wales, 1997-8: national survey

Abstract

Information on patients admitted as inpatients or day cases during sample periods in financial year 1997-8 were obtained from 215 of 221 acute independent hospitals with operating departments in England and Wales2; data obtained included the patient's clinical status, demographic information, and source of funding for the procedure. Numbers for the whole year were estimated by weighting the sample data according to the duration of sampling, the time of year, and the number of hospitals that did not respond; these numbers were validated as previously described.3 Extracts of the latest data (for 1996-7) were obtained from the Department of Health and the Welsh Information Agency's hospital episodes statistics for waiting lists and scheduled admissions for NHS and private patients admitted for non-psychiatric, non-maternity care. Data for first consultant episodes (98% of all consultant episodes for elective patients and equivalent to the number of admissions) and data from independent hospitals were analysed using SPSS statistical software. Although these two sources of data were out of phase by a year, hospital episodes in the NHS for general and acute specialties rose only 2% between 1996-7 and 1997-8 (NHS Executive, personal communication, 1999).