In recent years, the NHS has been grappling with increasing waiting times, strained resources, capacity, and the overwhelming backlog of patients in need of medical attention. Insourcing has emerged as a viable solution to address these challenges and enhance patient care delivery. In recent years, COVID-19 and incidents like junior doctors’ strikes, together with the lack of real estate capacity (i.e. theatres and clinic suites), have significantly increased waiting list times and the demand for insourcing solutions.

Insourcing within the healthcare market can be defined as the provision of a range of managed medical and clinical services, utilising spare, in or out-of hours capacity (typically in the evening and at weekends) within a trust, on top of an NHS trust’s existing capability, to reduce backlogs and improve efficiency.