Health board’s dependency on private hospitals set out
ALMOST twice as many patients in Lanarkshire were sent to private hospitals during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic as the rest of Scotland combined.
A freedom of information response from the Scottish Government has revealed the extent to which Covid-19 forced NHS Lanarkshire to rely on the private sector in the first six months of the pandemic.
NHS Lanarkshire said it “experienced a higher proportion” of virus cases than other parts of the country and that “for safety reasons” could not “see the usual number of patients in our existing hospitals”.
Across the county, at least 9105 patients were sent to private hospitals in Glasgow and Stirling between March and September 2020 for surgery, radiology or outpatient appointments.
Scotland’s other 13 health boards combined sent just more than 5330 patients to private hospitals in the same period.
Figures for a small number of patients sent by NHS Borders for radiology and outpatient appointments, by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for radiology activity and by NHS Lanarkshire to BMI Kings Park in Stirling for surgery were redacted by the Scottish Government to protect patient confidentiality.
NHS Lanarkshire relied heavily on Nuffield Glasgow with 4939 outpatient appointments, 1616 surgical procedures and 2550 radiology appointments outsourced to the hospital.
Across the rest of Scotland, NHS Lothian (1040) and NHS Grampian (2704) were the only other health boards to send more than 1000 patients to private hospitals in the same period.
Judith Park, NHS Lanarkshire director of acute services, said: “We experienced a higher proportion of Covid-19 cases compared to some other parts of Scotland. For safety reasons, we were unable to see the usual number of patients in our existing hospitals and other healthcare settings in Lanarkshire.
“To ensure our clinically urgent patients could be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible, we approached the independent sector for additional surgical and outpatient capacity. This also allowed us to focus our efforts on Covid-19 inpatients and emergency care.”
Scottish health boards spent £20.8 million on private hospitals between March and September 2020.
The most common procedures and appointments during the period for the whole of Scotland were ultrasounds (1321) and plastic surgery (1141).