Practice Plus Group is a healthcare company based in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

History

Practice Plus Group was founded as Care UK in 1982 and rebranded in 2020. It is owned by the investment company

Bridgepoint Group Bridgepoint Group plc is a British private investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Bridgepoint was founded as NatWest Equity Partners, a private equity firm part of NatWest. On ...

. In November 2023, Practice Plus Group won

LaingBuisson LaingBuisson is a business intelligence provider across health, care and education, headquartered in Angel, London. It provides insights, data and analysis of market structures, policy and strategy and is the chosen provider of independent sector h ...

's 'Hospital Group of the Year' award.

Facilities

Private hospitals

Practice Plus Group offers private patient treatment at its hospitals. Its website advertises prices of up to 30% less than other private hospitals. They specialise in hip, knee and cataract surgery. Their Secondary Care service operates six hospitals, three surgical centres, two musculoskeletal services, two Urgent Treatment Centres (providing walk-in access for the assessment and treatment of injury and illness on a no-appointment basis, or to patients referred via the

NHS 111 111 is a free-to-call single non-emergency number medical helpline operating in England, Scotland and Wales. The 111 phone service has replaced the various non-geographic 0845 rate numbers and is part of each country's National Health Service: i ...

service) and delivers ophthalmology services throughout England. The hospitals and surgical centres cover a range of specialties, including orthopaedics, endoscopy, ophthalmology, urology, gynaecology, oral and general surgery. Most centres also offer diagnostic imaging, such as X-rays and MRI, CT and ultrasound scans. Practice Plus Group’s Integrated Urgent Care division brings together NHS 111 call centres, clinical assessment, out-of-hours service and other urgent care services.

Prisons

The company is commissioned by

NHS England NHS England, formally the NHS Commissioning Board for England, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning si ...

to provide healthcare in over 45 prisons, from reception health checks on arrival and regular GP services, to help with substance misuse, mental health, chronic or long-term conditions, podiatry, physiotherapy and optometry. In November 2023, it was reported that a prison doctor employed by Practice Plus Group refused to prescribe Sarah Jane Baker oestrogen, saying they would only prescribe testosterone, which the Free Sarah Jane Baker campaign said "amounts to a medical detransition". A company spokesperson said they were "fully committed to providing appropriate care for trans patients".

Working with the NHS

Practice Plus Group delivers

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

services meeting a range of healthcare needs. They are regulated by the

Care Quality Commission The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care providers in England. It ...

and use the same governance and accountability procedures as the NHS.

References