3. NHS PLAN & REFORM (continued)
3.3.2 Could the Department provide a
list of all Independent Sector Treatment Centres (ISTCs) currently
in operation, or with contracts already signed, including (a)
name and location (b) company running the ISTC (c) services contracted
for, by type and volume (by Healthcare Resource Group if possible)
(d) value of contract per year, the period of the contract and
whether it is on a "take or pay" basis and (e) a comparison
with the cost at national tariff prices of providing the same
type and volume of services? (Q36)
ANSWER
1. The information requested is shown in
the Table 36 for agreed wave 1 Independent Sector Treatment
Centres (ISTCs). There are three further wave 1 facilities subject
to negotiation.
2. All wave 1 ISTC contracts are on a "take
or pay" basis. The amounts paid to individual independent
sector providers are commercially sensitive and cannot be disclosed.
This is because the ISTC programme is a rolling procurement and
release of this information could adversely impact upon the Department's
ability to secure the best possible value for money when procuring
public health care services. Total expenditure on agreed wave
1 ISTC contracts was £3.4 million in 2003-04, £14.1
million in 2004-05 and £118.3 million in 2005-06.
3. A range of indicators were considered
to ensure that we could measure and report on Value for Money
secured. This included as reference points, both NHS tariff and
historic prices the NHS had achieved when spot purchasing from
the NHS.
4. It is not possible to directly compare
the ISTC prices to tariff. To the extent that prices can be compared,
we estimate that across the full period of wave 1 contracts, the
average cost above the NHS equivalent cost of all wave 1 ISTCs
is approximately 11.2%.
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