£7m given to private hospitals
SNP blasted over contracts as Louisa Jordan facility lies empty
ANOTHER £7million worth of contracts have been signed with private health firms at the same time as a new NHS hospital remains unused.
The deals, struck by the health service, come as a £6million contract was agreed with the private Murrayfield facility in Edinburgh.
Labour MSP Neil Findlay said: “Instead of feeding these companies more and more taxpayers’ money, we should be nationalising them.”
Although Nicola Sturgeon once said as health secretary that private hospitals would only be used “at the margins”, the Government has recently stepped up its use of the independent sector.
As a way of using spare capacity during the pandemic, NHS Scotland recently signed a £6million contract with Spire Healthcare for its staff, facilities and equipment at Murrayfield. The deal included paying the hospital’s rent.
Two other deals were also struck with private operators.
A £3.9million contract was agreed between the NHS and Milton Keynesbased BMI, which runs private hospitals in Glasgow, Stirling, Aberdeen and Ayr.
Another deal, worth £3.1million, relates to the Glasgow Nuffield Health hospital. Both sums do not include VAT.
However, the decisions have been questioned as the £43million NHS Louisa Jordan, which was built to cope with rising demand caused by Covid19, is still not being used.
The Record asked Health Secretary Jeane Freeman when the Louisa Jordan would be commissioned for clearing the NHS backlog but she was unable to give any guidance.
She said: “I said last week that we were currently, as part of the NHS remobilisation plans, looking at options to use the NHS Louisa Jordan for outpatients, diagnostic and possibly some elective work but we have not reached a final decision in that yet.”
Findlay added: “At a time when public funds are stretched to breaking point and the Louisa Jordan hospital that cost the taxpayer £43million lies empty, the SNP Government are handing out millions of pounds to the privateers.”
A spokesman for NHS National Services Scotland said: “A small number of private healthcare providers were directly awarded contracts in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic.”