HEALTH chiefs are spending less than two per cent of Worcestershire's health budgets in the private sector, figures have revealed.

Worcester MP Robin Walker met bosses at the new South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and quizzed them over independent sector spending.

He said he was delighted to receive the answer of just 1.8 per cent, which he called “a lower figure than even I was expecting”.

Figures provided to the Tenbury Wells Advertiser show that in 2011/12, NHS Worcestershire – the organisation that was recently replaced by the county’s three new CCGs – spent just £6.8 million of its £800m budget in the private sector.

South Worcestershire accounted for £5.1m of that cash, equivalent to 1.7 per cent of overall expenditure in the patch.

The latest figures for 2012/13, up to the end of December, show a similar picture, with £3.7m spent in the independent sector in South Worcestershire – 1.8 per cent of overall expenditure.

Mr Walker said he hoped the figures would help ease fears from some campaign groups about “privatisation” of the NHS.

“I think the figure is exceptionally low and shows they are working very hard to commission the vast majority of the work that needs doing within the NHS, which is what the public wants to see,” he said.

Simon Trickett, the chief operating officer of South Worcestershire CCG, said that the small amount that is spent in the private sector is based on ‘tariff’ prices – meaning no more is paid than if the patient were to receive the service from an NHS provider.

“There are already some independent sector providers of NHS services locally and patient outcomes and experience of these services are generally very good and provided at the same cost as many NHS services,” he said.

He said patient outcomes and experiences would play a significant role in future decisions over spending.

“In the future we do see one of our main challenges as trying to make local NHS services more joined up and less complicated.

“Working with our existing NHS providers is a key strand of how we can achieve that.

“We are also finalising our procurement plans and will ensure that there is always a significant quality element to all new contracts so that selecting new providers of services is never based solely on price.”