Independent sector NHS contract qualification
Paterson Inquiry · Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Issues raised by Paterson · Issued 4 February 2020 · Addressed to: Department of Health and Social Care
Government responseDepartment of Health and Social Care: Not accepted (Dec 2021)
DeliveryDHSC and NHS England say not accepted (Feb 2026)DHSC states no delivery position (May 2024)Department of Health and Social Care says not accepted (Dec 2022)
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
We recommend that, if the Government accepts any of the recommendations concerned, it should make arrangements to ensure that these are to be applicable across the whole of the independent sector's workload (i.e. private, insured and NHS-funded) if independent sector providers are to be able to qualify for NHS-contracted work.
Paterson Inquiry, Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Issues raised by Paterson · 4 Feb 2020 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
AI-generated evidence summary
In commentary from September 2024 published in February 2026, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England confirmed that the recommendation was not accepted, explaining that differences in operational and governance models between the sectors require different approaches (DHSC and NHS England, Feb 2026). The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team noted in May 2024 that the recommendation was not accepted by the government and was due to be reviewed further (The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team, May 2024). The department had stated in February 2024 that "no further action has been taken in relation to this recommendation" (The Department of Health and Social Care, May 2024).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.
Government response
●Department of Health and Social Care · Not accepted · 16 Dec 2021
Do not accept – keep under review
This recommendation, if implemented, would change the way in which independent sector providers qualify for NHS contracts. As demonstrated in our response to the other recommendations, independent sector providers are fully committed to implementing changes alongside NHS providers. They must already meet the same regulatory standards, as required by CQC.
We will continue to monitor the independent sector uptake of the other recommendations and we will review our position on this recommendation in 12 months’ time, setting out further steps if necessary.
The government does not agree that independent sector providers should only qualify for NHS-contracted work if they apply all the other recommendations accepted by government across their entire workload.
Extract from: Government response to the independent inquiry report into the issues raised by former surgeon Ian Paterson
Delivery
●DHSC and NHS England say not accepted · 27 Feb 2026
This recommendation was not accepted by Government. The Government response recognised that patients treated in the independent sector should have the same right to safe treatment as those treated in the NHS. For that reason, it is important that, where the NHS is adopting certain recommendations from the inquiry, these recommendations are also adopted in the independent sector. The previous Government recognised, however, the differences in the ways in which the two sectors operate and the governance models adopted in each case. The previous Government felt that different approaches are therefore often required for achieving change in the independent sector and therefore this recommendation was not accepted.
●DHSC states no delivery position · 15 May 2024
Not implemented as per government response. No further action has been taken in relation to this recommendation.
From: The Thirlwall Inquiry: Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version of 15 May 2024), The Department of Health and Social Care
●Department of Health and Social Care says not accepted · 15 Dec 2022
The government will continue to keep this recommendation under review.
It is now a condition of the NHS Standard Contract that independent providers must have regard to the MPAF for clinical governance in the independent sector.
What other bodies have found
●Thirlwall Inquiry legal team · 15 May 2024
Action 11.1:
Not accepted by the government. This remained the case at the 12-month review mark and was due to be reviewed further in another 12 months.
How this page is built
The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.