Introduction
Waiting times in the NHS are rising and there is widespread concern that productivity dipped during the Covid-19 pandemic and has not yet recovered. Insourcing is a way to improve productivity.
It is important to understand what insourcing means in the NHS context as it seems to differ from other definitions. Outside of the NHS, insourcing involves bringing functions or processes back into the organisation to be performed by staff members rather than third party organisations.
However, in the NHS context, an NHS body’s own resources are used, but the staff are not employed by the NHS body. NHS England2 has published guidance that defines insourcing as:
‘the provision of medical specialty, consultant-led surgical or clinical services, which are deployed to a participating authority within existing structures to utilise spare, out-of-hours capacity, typically at weekends and evenings, within a trust.’
NHS SBS defines insourcing as:
‘the employment of a third-party organisation to perform medical services/ procedures on trust premises. It differs to locum and agency staffing supply with the full end to end service being provided, not just staff.’
In the NHS context, insourcing examples include:
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a company uses an NHS trust’s theatre space at the weekend to deliver healthcare services with the aim of reducing waiting lists. The company employs all the staff that are used to provide the service and is responsible for the healthcare service from end to end. The patients are not admitted to the NHS trust at any time during their procedure, as if they were attending a private hospital for the procedure paid for by the NHS body. The company provides clinical oversight and manages clinical risk – should something go wrong, the company is responsible for resolving the issue and paying any compensation that may be due
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a company has a contract to review scans and engages experts who use NHS equipment to read those scans in the evenings and weekends. The company has its own liability insurance and working practices. The company is responsible for engaging appropriate experts, ensuring that they are appropriately qualified and quality assuring their work.
Date: 28 July