On Thursday 16 July, PHIN held its annual summer members meeting.

Key points

• PHIN has achieved full compliance with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order.
• More than 12,000 consultants and hundreds of hospitals are now contributing data to support greater transparency for patients.
• The CMA has formally recognised PHIN’s achievement, marking a major milestone for the independent healthcare sector.
• PHIN is now focused on maintaining compliance, improving patient awareness and delivering more value through its data and insights.
• New benchmarking tools, patient insight research and data products are helping providers and consultants improve care and support patient choice.

A major milestone for healthcare transparency

PHIN brought together its members to celebrate a significant achievement in delivering compliance with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order , at The Royal Institution in London.

Speaking at the members' event, PHIN Chair Jane Scott reflected on the journey since the organisation first presented its compliance roadmap four years ago.

"At the time we recognised there was a huge hill to climb," she said. "Today we're celebrating the achievement of full compliance, but we also recognise this is not the end of the journey. There is still more to do to raise awareness of PHIN and to continue improving the information available to patients."

The achievement follows years of collaboration between PHIN, healthcare providers, consultants, insurers, professional bodies, patient representatives and the CMA.

Collaboration at the heart of success

Throughout the event, speakers repeatedly highlighted the importance of partnership working.

Jane thanked PHIN's staff, Board, Partnership Forum, Implementation Forum, consultant organisations, providers and the CMA for their contributions.

"Success was only achieved by working collaboratively," she said. "Everybody played a role in helping us get to this point."

PHIN Chief Executive Dr Ian Gargan echoed that message, describing the achievement as a landmark moment not only for PHIN but for the wider sector.

"Government orders often get delayed, diluted or disappear altogether," he said. "You should be very proud of what has been achieved. Collaboration is the only reason we're standing here having delivered the Order."

Putting patients first

From the outset, the CMA Order was designed to help patients make more informed healthcare choices by improving access to information about healthcare providers, consultants, quality and costs.

Dr Gargan stressed that patient benefit remains at the centre of PHIN's purpose.

"If you educate people about healthcare and help them understand their choices, you should see better outcomes for patients," he said. "Ultimately, that contributes to a healthier UK."

He also highlighted PHIN's focus on patient engagement, including the organisation's Patient Insight Reports, which gathers feedback on how patients search for and use healthcare information.

"Our responsibility is to make information accessible and understandable," he said. "Patients are often making decisions when they are already stressed or unwell, and we need to support them through that journey."

Growing data and insights

PHIN's Director of Technology, Product and Health Informatics, Richard Wells , shared an overview of the organisation's latest data.

During 2025:

• Private healthcare admissions reached 953,000, with activity continuing to grow.
• More than 670,000 admissions were funded through private medical insurance – the highest level recorded by PHIN.
• Around 283,000 admissions were self-pay treatments.
• More than 11,400 consultants were active (the number fluctuates throughout the year) in the sector during the most recent reporting period.

Richard also highlighted the launch of new benchmarking tools for hospitals and consultants, enabling users to compare performance against peer groups across measures such as activity, length of stay, adverse events and patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs).

"Benchmarking is just the start of a wider journey to help providers and consultants gain more value from their data," he said.

Driving quality improvement

Another important area of development is PHIN's growing use of data to support quality improvement and patient safety.

Dr Gargan described how PHIN's expanding data capabilities can help identify unusual patterns and provide information that assists hospitals and healthcare organisations in their governance processes.

He noted that the organisation is continuing to develop benchmarking and outcomes analysis to support learning across the sector and improve patient care.

PHIN is also working with clinical registries, healthcare organisations and other partners to improve how information is shared and used across healthcare.

Operating efficiently for members

Chief Financial Officer Karen Greenidge reported that PHIN expects to finish the current financial year below budget and is proposing no increase in member funding requirements for the coming year.

Cost savings have been achieved through careful budget management, including office consolidation, supplier contract reviews and reduced spending on external consultants.

Karen said PHIN remains committed to delivering value for members while maintaining investment in information security, technology and staff development.

"We understand we are entirely member-funded," she said. "That continues to drive our focus on delivering value while minimising cost pressures on members."

Looking ahead

While celebrating the achievement of full compliance, speakers at the member event were clear that the work does not stop here.

PHIN's next phase will focus on what Dr Gargan described as "delivery excellence" – ensuring that the information collected is increasingly useful for patients, consultants, providers and the wider healthcare system.

A new long term strategy to be published in the first quarter of 2027 will set out PHIN's future direction, including plans to increase public awareness, enhance data products and continue supporting informed patient choice.

Closing the event, Jane Scott thanked everyone who had contributed over the past four years.

"We've reached an incredible milestone," she said. "But now the focus is on continuing to improve, maintaining compliance and making an even greater difference for patients."

Additional information

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