Member Article

PJ Care chief executive backs healthcare plans of NHS England’s new head

SPECIALIST neurological care provider PJ Care has welcomed the comments of NHS England’s new chief executive on the way forward for the health service.

Simon Stevens, who stepped into the new role at the start of this month, identified private healthcare providers as key players in the service’s future.

In a speech to 300 health professionals in Newcastle on his first day in the job, Mr Stevens praised ‘the critical role of the third sector, and the innovation value of new providers’.

He said failure to appreciate their value was one of a number of issues the NHS collectively had got wrong.

And his views have been strongly backed by Johann van Zyl, chief executive officer of PJ Care, the UK’s leading independent provider of specialist neurological care and rehabilitation.

He said: “It’s very reassuring to hear the leading voice in the NHS recognising the value of independent health care providers in such a high profile and positive way.

“At PJ Care we work very closely with the NHS to offer incredibly valuable treatment, care and rehabilitation that simply couldn’t be provided anywhere else.

“And it’s care that has been proven, over and over again, to be the most cost-effective way to treat people with long-term neurological conditions like motor neurone disease, Huntington’s disease, early onset dementia, as well as a range of acquired brain injuries.

“There is a perception that independent providers always pursue profit at the expense of patient care. How wrong this is. Every day of my working life and those of my colleagues is devoted to providing the best care for our residents, almost all of whom are from the NHS.

“As Mr Stevens points out, independent providers like us also have an ability to innovate. We can be flexible and respond rapidly to meet patient needs.

“When it comes to creating and launching new services, we can often react faster and more efficiently than the NHS. This means we actually add value and quality to NHS provision.

“It’s very heartening to know that Mr Stevens recognises the vital work we, and others in the independent sector, are doing.”

PJ Care was created by registered nurse Jan Flawn in 2000, after she was shocked to witness inappropriate care being given to young people with neurological conditions in some homes for the elderly.

Jan is now chair of the award-winning company, which runs three specialist neurological care centres – two in Milton Keynes and the Eagle Wood Neurological Care Centre in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.

Eagle Wood is the only UK centre of its kind providing onsite care and treatment for all neurological care conditions.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by PJ Care .