There is currently more data than ever before on the safety, quality and costs of UK private healthcare, the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) has found.

The UK private healthcare sector is experiencing its highest levels of transparency, thanks to increasingly available data on its safety, quality and costs.

So much so, the sector has achieved what it calls a “gold milestone” level of compliance with the Competition and Markets Authority’s Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order 2014. These are transparency provisions designed to enable patients to choose the hospital consultant that best meets their needs.

The Competition and Markets Authority has welcomed the recognition. 

The Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) led the implementation process and notes how its website now has the information on the 690 hospitals and 12,600 surgical consultants offering private healthcare services in the UK. It also shares guides on elements such as how patients should pay for private healthcare.

PHIN hopes this will help its already 50,000+ patient visitors and 80,000+ people admitted to a private hospital each month to make more informed choices.

“This milestone represents an important step forward for patient safety… Improved flow of information, especially for those with implantable devices, will help ensure issues can be identified and acted on more quickly, strengthening protection for patients,” suggested Henrietta Hughes, patient safety commissioner for England.

Last month, PHIN also launched benchmarking services to provide greater transparency around activities.