Regulation of healthcare providers

The healthcare sector is heavily regulated and governed by legislation as diverse as that regulating administration of drugs, competition between healthcare providers, complaints about treatment given by the National Health Service (NHS), data protection, freedom of information requests, food hygiene, mental capacity of patients in consenting to treatment, procurement in supplies and regulation of professional standards of individual practitioners. There are also a number of guidelines such as National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) and supervisory bodies appointed to have oversight of different aspects of healthcare provision that providers are expected to adhere to. See Practice Note: NICE Guidance.

Regulation relating to public healthcare in England is primarily governed by the Health and Care Act 2022 (HCA 2022); Health and Social Care Act 2012 (HSCA 2012), both of which made substantial amendments to the National Health Service Act 2006 (NHSA 2006) and other NHS legislation. HSCA 2012 is the product of a number of initiatives that seeks to put patients first, improve healthcare outcomes and change the structure of commissioning powers.

Regulation of healthcare (both public and private) can be divided

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