Concern over private medical screening

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters) - Companies selling private medical screening face government controls over concerns the tests make patients anxious and put pressure on the NHS, a senior medical advisor said on Thursday.

Muir Gray of the government's National Screening Committee (NSC) told medical magazine Pulse that the private health sector needed regulating over the tests.

Medical screening on offer from private firms ranges from cheap cholesterol checks to whole body scans costing thousands of pounds.

"We are thinking of how we control private testing because it's an example of low value activity which generates work for the health service, may cause harm and does not benefit the individual," said Gray, the NSC's programme director.

"Lots of GPs I know are very concerned about people who go to a private clinic for a blood test and then the people who run the private clinic say 'Oh your kidney results look a bit funny -- just go and see your GP'," he added.

Since 1996 the health service has had to submit all new screening programmes to the NSC to ensure they are effective and beneficial to patients.

Gray said private sector screening also needed to be controlled.

"We'll look at different forms of regulation -- some from the Healthcare Commission, some through the Advertising Standards Authority, some through the Office of Fair Trading. It will be an evidence-based regime," Gray said.