20th September 2016, London – Transparency International Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Programme (TI-PHP) welcomes news that NHS doctors will be required to declare income from private work.

Under the new rules, every hospital will be made to publish a register of consultants’ outside earnings from April to expose potential conflicts of interest.

Sophie Peresson, TI-PHP Director, said:

“This is a positive measure that has the potential to minimise the risk of NHS doctors abusing their paid time commitments to increase their private incomes, especially at a time when lengthy waiting lists are a major concern.”

 “A published register of outside earnings will be a useful tool in scrutinising the risk of conflicts of interests and we encourage the creation of a central register for all NHS workers to declare interest.”  

 New research from TI-PHP, due to be published at the start of October, will show that private use of public paid for equipment, supplies and time is an issue in health systems worldwide.

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