Cash-strapped NHS Highland could be forced to 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 time were frozen because patients turned down private care.
She added: “Use of private healthcare is becoming more common in the NHS under this government. Boards end up having to take agency nurses and use private hospitals because they are trying to meet targets.”
Achieving waiting times has long been a challenge because of recruitment and staffing problems, and the revelation patients could be sent to private care came as the board discussed efforts to plug the predicted £8.4million overspend.