CMA Compliance Statement

Compliance with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

In October 2014, the Competition and Markets Authority (the “CMA”) published the Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order 2014 (the “Order”) following its investigation into the private healthcare industry. The Order imposed requirements on private hospital operators to disclose certain information in relation to referring clinicians (as defined by the Order) for the benefit of patients. Full details about the investigation and the Order can be found on the CMA web page www.gov.uk/cma-cases/private-healthcare-market-investigation. The information provided by the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust below is required by the Order.

Royal National Orthopaedic Private Care, part of the Royal National Orthopaedic NHS Trust, does not offer any inducements to referring clinicians to refer private patients to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.

The details set out here are provided for clarity as indicated in the CMA Order on the Private Healthcare Market. The following services are available to our referring clinicians to support Private Care:

‘Low Value’ Services

  1. General services provided to ensure clinical safety
    • In-house training is provided as part of the NHS induction programme, including the medical induction package and in line with NHS ongoing training.
    • Operational services such as patient admission and administration are provided to consultants to support both their NHS and private practice at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.
    • The Royal National Orthopaedic NHS Trust is an NHS hospital and as such provides the usual protections for NHS consultants, for NHS work.
  2. Basic workplace amenities
    • Tea and coffee is not provided to consultants.
    • Stationery is provided to enable consultants to book NHS and private patients into the outpatient clinics.
    • Meals are not subsidised or provided free of charge.
    • Free onsite parking is provided to all RNOH staff.
  3. General marketing
    • Website presence and support.
    • Consultant directory.
    • Support in updating insurers’ consultant profiles.
  4. General corporate hospitality
    • Events are held on site for external referrers, such as embassies and GPs. Consultants provide assistance at these events, to promote the Trust’s services and facilities.

‘Higher Value’ Services

The services provided to referring clinicians and the amounts charged for those services are set out below:

  • The Royal National Orthopaedic Private Care provides indemnity cover in respect of private care treatment in the Trust, cover includes staff and consultants. The Trust undertakes billing for consultants who are covered by the indemnity agreement and an administrative fee of 2.5% plus VAT is charged.
  • Use of consulting rooms: £15 per hour – Stanmore site
  • Use of consulting rooms: £30 per hour – Bolsover site