Bupa calls on private medical cover hospitals to publish data

Private medical cover holders could soon benefit from comprehensive data on the performance of different private hospitals.

Health insurance provider Bupa has called on others in the industry to help set up a hospital 'report card' system like that currently used for the NHS.

Bupa's group medical director Dr Andrew Vallance-Owen and Dr Natalie-Jane Macdonald, managing director of Bupa Health and Wellbeing, sent a jointly-signed letter to the chief executives of all private hospitals in the UK.

They argued that the hospitals should make readily available clinical information so that a report can be compiled similar to the recently published Dr Foster Hospital Guide, which includes a report card for every NHS hospital trust.

Dr Macdonald said that this must be done "to enable proper comparisons within the private sector and with the NHS and importantly, to demonstrate the excellent standards of care in the private sector".

BMI Healthcare operates the UK's largest network of private hopsitals, with over 70 sites nationwide.

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