Glasgow is to transfer 1,000 patients over to the private sector

NHS Greater Glasgow is finalising a �2m contract to transfer 1,000 orthopaedic patients for treatment at two private hospitals and cut its backlog by 20%.

Health Minister Andy Kerr announced last week that the private sector will be increasingly used to treat patients in a bid to cut NHS waiting lists.

Mr Kerr hailed the move by the city's health chiefs as "ground-breaking".

We have decided to use spare private capacity in Scotland to help accelerate our progress to meeting waiting time targets Tom Divers NHS Greater Glasgow

The contract with the Nuffield and Ross Hall Hospitals is in the final stages of being ratified and will be used to treat patients currently waiting longer than six months for assessment.

The health board said the move was needed as Glasgow's acute hospitals are currently working to full capacity.

Under the plans, each patient will be assessed within the first three months of the year by consultants at the two Glasgow hospitals and receive any subsequent orthopaedic surgery before next September.

As a result of the deal, the board claims that by December 2005 none of its patients will have wait more than 26 weeks for an outpatient appointment.

'Good value'

NHS Greater Glasgow chief executive Tom Divers said: "In recent years Glasgow has faced significant challenges coping with the increased demands on orthopaedic services.

"As a regional centre for these services and faced with recruitment difficulties, we have decided to use spare private capacity in Scotland to help accelerate our progress to meeting waiting time targets.

"The money we are investing in this initiative is part of a specific waiting times financial allocation from the Scottish Executive health department.

This is a ground-breaking deal that will be warmly welcomed by patients in the Glasgow area Andy Kerr Health Minister

"The deal negotiate by NHS Greater Glasgow represents good news for patients and good value for money as a result of competitive negotiations with the hospitals."

The board is also looking at reducing waiting times through the use of specially trained physiotherapists who are able to diagnose and refer patients for treatment and free up surgeons to spend more time on operations.

These initiatives come on top of new investment plans by the board which will see it recruit six orthopaedic consultants, new anaesthetic and theatre staff and a range of other clinical specialists to treat patients in the future.

The health minister welcomed the move and said: "This is a ground-breaking deal that will be warmly welcomed by patients in the Glasgow area who are waiting for orthopaedic assessment, diagnosis and treatment.

"We said that we are prepared to make more use of the private sector to help drive down waiting times, and this is clear evidence of that approach.

Spare capacity

"This is a unique approach. The first time we have transferred such a large number of patients and the first time that outpatients are being transferred to the private sector to be seen, diagnosed and get their inpatient treatment where appropriate."

The NHS already makes limited use of spare capacity in the private sector but the health minister has told parliament that he wants to take the idea a stage further.