Private patient figure is low
Board allay queue-jumping fear
Health chiefs say only a “handful”of private patients have been treated in Forth Valley in the last three years.
Since 2015, 10 people have paid for procedures carried out within NHS facilities in Forth Valley, and a total of £980 was reimbursed to the authority for that work.
A spokesman for the health board insisted the surgery had not impacted on NHS waiting times for treatment.
The comments came after claims from Labour that NHS patients could be `leapfrogged’ by private patients.
A national newspaper investigation discovered that since 2012, NHS Scotland had earned more than £13.2 million carrying out tests and procedures on around 8500 private patients in NHS hospitals.
Procedures ranged from ultrasounds and biopsies to hip replacements, heart surgery and CT scans.
Much of the private work was carried out by NHS Lothian which in 2017-18 had an income of more than £1.3 million from procedures involving 502 private patients.
It was announced last month that a £17 million investment in additional theatre capacity and a new MRI scanner had been introduced in a bid to reduce waiting times at Forth Valley Royal Hospital.
Figures had showed waiting times for inpatient and day case appointments were the worst in the country. Between January and March only 56.1 per cent of NHS Forth Valley patients in that category were seen within the 12-week target time, compared with 75.9 per cent across Scotland. Orthopaedic, general and vascular surgery were said to have been experiencing particular high demand.
Two new operating theatres will be opened in the next year to focus on general and orthopaedic surgery.
This will enable around 1500 extra joint replacement operations to be carried out each year. The new MRI scanner, the hospital’s second, will deliver around 8000 additional scans each year.