As people in Newham brace themselves for a third wave of coronavirus infections and the lifting of Covid-19 rules is put on hold, the NHS relationship with private medicine has been in the spotlight with news that public health providers are working “more closely than ever before” with private healthcare providers.

Across Newham and north east London some patients have benefited from private and public collaboration during the pandemic, particularly to provide cancer treatments.

This comes just a few months after NHS hospital medical directors issued a warning about the private sector not giving enough priority to the crisis caused by the pandemic.

In six boroughs collaboration with private hospitals has helped create “much-needed extra capacity” to deliver essential cancer services according to the North East London Cancer Alliance.

Interim managing director of the alliance, Ivor Baker, said that cancer services have been able to continue running thanks to the creation of a “cancer hub” at BMI the London Independent Hospital, near the Royal London Hospital.

“A lot of hard work has gone into making this a successful clinical collaboration, which we look forward to building on in the future.”

However, earlier in the year senior clinical leaders, including the medical director of Barts Health Trust, covering Newham University Hospital and Whipps Cross Hospital, said they were “profoundly uncomfortable” with routine care in private hospitals while the NHS was facing “unthinkable” pressures from coronavirus.

In a joint letter to all the medical directors of London’s acute hospital trusts, regional leaders asked them “not to support” their staff performing non-urgent work in the private sector and called for a suspension of such work for the month of January.

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