CASH-strapped NHS Highland could pay £120,000 to send patients for operations at a private hospital 170 miles away – because of a staff shortage.
People waiting for orthopaedic surgery at Raigmore Hospital are to be offered procedures at Ross Hall in Glasgow so the health board does not miss waiting time targets.
If all 22 patients due for operations this month agree to travel south for treatment, it would cost the authority £120,000. Any of the patients who refuse treatment in Glasgow will have to wait longer for their surgery.
The NHS Highland board approved the expense yesterday – but at the same time agreed cuts to plug an £8.4million funding gap, including removing spending power from 600 staff members.
Raigmore’s orthopaedic schedule is fully booked during December because two of the 11 orthopaedic consultants are absent. One is on study leave while the other is on paternity leave.
The board normally sends patients to the Golden Jubilee Hospital, also in Glasgow, which specialises in cutting waiting lists, but it is also full during December.
NHS Highland’s chief executive Elaine Mead described the situation as an “exceptional circumstance”.
She said that the issue was being reviewed on a regular basis, adding that at present the private hospital arrangement only applied for December.
Essential operating theatre maintenance has also exacerbated the situation.
Board chairman Garry Coutts said: “If they want to have their operations here and do not want to go to Glasgow, their clock stops. We would then endeavour to book them in as soon as we have capacity at Raigmore. The choice is up to the patients.”
Highlands and islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said yesterday she would be concerned if waiting times were frozen because patients turned down private care.
She added: “Use of private healthcare is becoming more common under this government.
“Boards end up having to take agency nurses and use private hospitals because they are trying to meet targets.”
The orthopaedics department carries out up to 120 planned operations every month, with emergency procedures adding scores more.
Achieving waiting times has long been a challenge because of recruitment and staffing problems, and the revelation that patients could be sent to the private hospital came as the board discussed the latest efforts to plug the predicted £8.4million overspend.
Finance director Nick Kenton said that possible savings of £2.7million had been identified and work was ongoing to find the rest before the end of the financial year.
He said it was a “concerning position” but he was confident the budget would be balanced.
Around 600 budget-holders across the organisation will have their spending powers limited as the board tries to tighten its belt even further.
Purchasing on items such as furniture will be referred to senior bosses – but the board insisted there will be no scrimping on medicines.
Posts will also not be filled at Raigmore – although the board was told that spending on locums was one of the major reasons for the overspend.
Mr Coutts assured the public yesterday that frontline services would not be compromised.
Ms Mead added that “every single person” within the organisation had to play their part.
Margaret Watt, of the Scottish Patients Association, said the practice of sending patients to private hospitals was growing across Scotland.
She said: “We need to get our act together. Health boards are badly short of the necessary expertise and patients are being sent all over the country.”
Ross Hall Hospital is part of BMI Healthcare. It has 101 beds with en-suite facilities, satellite television and a telephone.