Insurers already starting to fund care in patients' homes

Health services delivered in the community represent a multi-billion pound opportunity for the private healthcare sector, according to Laing & Buisson’s Primary Care and Out of Hospital Services UK Market Report.

The analyst predicts that NHS reforms, which will see services migrated out of hospitals into community settings, will include a major role for independent providers.

Independent provision of home healthcare by providers such as Bupa Home Healthcare is already worth £1.1bn, according to Laing & Buisson, while privately-paid general practice is worth £500m (although the report describes it as "something of an investment backwater, dominated by small scale, professionally based providers").

Shifting care into the community is a long-standing policy in the NHS, promoted by both the previous and current government in response to the challenges of an ageing population and a large incidence of chronic conditions that can be managed at lower cost outside hospitals.

Faced with a savings target of £20bn by 2015, the NHS is under pressure to radically reconfigure services. The report argues that, lacking in funds, it will have to host these services in existing facilities such as GP surgeries, care homes and people’s own homes.

Private medical insurance providers have recognised the advantages of delivering care outside hospitals through benefits such as chemotherapy delivered in patients' homes and psychiatric benefits that fund talking therapies in the community in addition to traditional inpatient care.