NHS buy £1.8m private hospital
Carrick Glen to become national treatment centre
A private hospital has been snapped up by NHS chiefs in a bid to alleviate stress on orthopaedic surgery waiting times.
Carrick Glen in Ayr has changed hands in a £1.8m deal which will see it become one of 10 new national treatment centres (NTC).
Health secretary Humza Yousaf announced the move on a visit to Ayr Hospital last Wednesday.
He said: “These centres will mark the largest expansion in elective care capacity in NHS Scotland with an overall investment of over £400m.
“We know that the pandemic has taken its toll on services like orthopaedics, but the network of NTCs will help address this and will be central to NHS recovery.
“I would like to thank the NHS Ayrshire & Arran team for their continued hard work and determination to progress the new centre during a time of continued significant pressure.
“This expansion, along with the NTC in Ayrshire, will provide significant additional capacity in orthopaedics.”
Dr Joellene Mitchell, consultant anaesthetist and co-clinical lead for the NTC Ayrshire & Arran, said: “The NTC aims to create additional access to theatre sessions, increase orthopaedic inpatient beds and improve orthopaedic pathways through a whole scale review and redesign of processes, services, staffing and accommodation.
“It will complement the elective centre of excellence on the University Hospital Ayr site, and will mean that we can treat more patients, reducing waiting times and improving patient experience.”
Constituency SNP MSP, Elena Whitham, added: “This is a fantastic repurposing of a local asset that should make a huge difference to health outcomes and waiting times for joint replacements.
“We know that the pandemic has particularly impacted orthopaedic services, and the delivery of this NTC is to be very much applauded as NHS Ayrshire & Arran continue to mitigate the significant pressures it has faced as a consequence of required service restrictions; and moves forward into full recovery mode.”
South Scotland Labour list MSP Carol Mochan called on the Scottish Government to do more to address ‘spiralling’ waiting times.
She added: “Whilst further investment in our region is absolutely required, an extra 22 beds that are earmarked to increase national capacity is not going to do a lot to help patients locally.
“And it will barely make a dent in the NHS waiting list which currently has hundreds of thousands of patients waiting in pain across Scotland.”
Colin Smyth, Labour’s South of Scotland list MSP added: “While this is undoubtedly to be welcomed, our brilliant NHS workers in existing NHS hospitals need the support and resources to do their job, and Humza Yousaf and his Government are failing to provide this.
“We need urgent action to end delayed discharge and increase the number of hospital beds which will help to get A&E back on its feet and save lives.”