The private sector: a supporting role

The need for the NHS to meet increased demand, while maintaining quality with limited resources has led to an increasing pressure to come up with new ways of providing improved, yet more cost-effective, clinical and other services. This has led to increasing partnerships between NHS organisations and the private and voluntary sectors. The challenge is to embrace the best available skills, knowledge and capacity, to ensure better patient outcomes. 

BMI Healthcare, the UK’s largest private hospital group, recently appointed Jan Thomas as its new NHS commercial director. She comes from United Health UK where, as director of strategy, she was responsible for promoting collaborative working practices to improve the organisation’s care delivery, quality and cost-effectiveness. Jan Thomas originally trained as a nurse and held many positions within the NHS, working with both commissioners and care providers. 

Commenting on her appointment, Martin Johnson, managing director of commercial, business improvement, technology and infrastructure at BMI Healthcare, said: “The changing healthcare marketplace has created new challenges and opportunities and BMI Healthcare has recruited Jan Thomas to help it deliver a clear vision for the future that will allow it to foster relationships to further enhance its proposition as a key partner working with the NHS.”