Private healthcare and musculoskeletal (MSK) professionals are calling for immediate Government action following the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) stark report on NHS elective care.
Despite £3.24bn invested in transforming diagnostic and surgical services, NHS England (NHSE) has still failed to meet its post-COVID recovery targets. At the same time, MSK waiting lists are spiraling to record highs.
Private sector healthcare professionals that are seeing more and more patients come to them unable to endure the lengthy NHS waiting times. The Government is overlooking a fully qualified, readily available workforce that could relieve pressure on hospitals and GP surgeries at minimal cost to NHSE. Instead, billions continue to be spent while patient waiting times grow longer and national targets slip further out of reach.
Indeed, a recent health economics report conducted by the York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC), a subsidiary of York University, highlights the scale of missed opportunity. The research shows that utilising chiropractors, as a private regulated healthcare profession, into NHS MSK community care could:
- Free up more than 100,000 NHS appointments every year, and
- Return £400 million to the UK economy through reduced productivity loss.
These findings directly support the PAC’s calls to strengthen outpatient services, improve waiting times, and deliver more efficient patient care.
Tim Button, President of the British Chiropractic Association (BCA), said:
“Chiropractors are ready to step up and play our part to reduce soaring waiting time, and we cannot afford to miss opportunities while patients suffer. Our members can deliver safe, evidence-informed MSK care in communities, alongside NHS colleagues, to help bring down waiting lists and improve patient outcomes.
We must work together as a collective MSK healthcare workforce. The PAC's report shows clearly that unless we can change our approach and think innovatively about community treatment, unfortunately, waiting times will not come down to the desired levels.”
The BCA urges NHSE, the Department for Health and Social Care and Ministers to recognise the scale and readiness of the MSK workforce outside the NHS. At a time when the health service is struggling to meet even its revised recovery targets. Not utilising these community-based clinicians is a strategic failure that patients can no longer afford.