Subject: DOH:SPEEDIER SURGERY FOR THOUSANDS OF NHS PATIENTS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 2004/0144 21 April 2004 SPEEDIER SURGERY FOR THOUSANDS OF NHS PATIENTS TO START WITHIN WEEKS PLEASE NOTE EMBARGO Not for publication or broadcast before 0700 hours Wednesday 21 Apr 2004 UK PRIVATE AND NOT-FOR-PROFIT HOSPITALS WIN FIRST MAJOR NHS CONTRACT Health Secretary John Reid announced today that thousands of NHS patients will have their operations more quickly because the NHS has signed a breakthrough deal to use available capacity in UK independent hospitals. Nuffield Hospitals and Capio Healthcare UK have been awarded contracts to perform almost 25,000 hip, knee and other operations for the NHS in this financial year. Under this scheme, around 880 NHS patients in each strategic health authority will start to receive operations within weeks, in 50 independent hospitals all over the country. Health Secretary John Reid said: "This is great news for thousands of NHS patients, who will have their operations more quickly as a result of this agreement. "Seventy percent of this work will be orthopaedics - the speciality that has proved to be the toughest nut to crack in terms of long waits. Although the NHS is expanding fast, it is currently not able to deliver this work as quickly as patients need these operations. These operations will start next month. "I am determined that no NHS patient should wait in pain where we can negotiate cost-effective agreements to use capacity already available in the independent sector in this country. "This deal represents good value for the NHS because the cost for each operation and associated care is on a par with equivalent NHS prices. "The Department's tough negotiation with independent companies on a planned, national level has allowed us to drive down costs for the NHS. Of course, all care will be free at the point of use for patients and delivered according to need. "I'm encouraged to see that UK providers can offer well-priced bids, competitive with overseas providers. I understand there was some disappointment that UK providers did not secure treatment centre contracts last time, and am pleased that radical steps have been taken to reduce prices. "Today's announcement adds even more capacity to an NHS which has already seen a massive increase in capacity. Record investment in the NHS and the continued hard work of staff has made huge reductions to waiting times, but there will be no loss of momentum in our drive to speed up access to surgery and offer patients a choice of where they are treated. By 2005, nobody should have to wait longer than six months for an operation." David Mobbs, Chief Executive of Nuffield Hospitals said: "As a not-for-profit organisation, Nuffield Hospitals' objective - to make high quality healthcare more accessible to all - is right on target in terms of this contract to support the work of the NHS. "We believe that the patient should be at the heart of healthcare delivery - be that state or independent - and we recognise that this contract demonstrates the Government's commitment to ensuring that patient care drives its healthcare decisions." Tim Elsigood, Senior Vice President and Head of the Capio Healthcare UK business area, said: "This is good news for NHS patients. We welcome this opportunity to help the NHS meet its waiting list targets as well as providing further choice for NHS patients. Across Europe 75% of Capio's patients are state-funded. This contract is a further extension of providing high-quality and cost-effective care to state-funded patients." Notes to editors - The Prime Minister announced plans on July 30 2003 to provide at least 125,000 extra operations over the next five years. See DH press notice 30 July 2003. - For media enquiries ONLY call: - Department of Health: Lizzy Bell 020 210 5222; David Hands 020 7210 4905; Lee Bailey 020 7210 5010. - Nuffield: Katy Evans 0207 404 6777 KatyE@harrisoncowley.com - Capio: Olivia Jones 0207 400 4480 ojones@mediastrategy.co.uk - These contracts will serve all 28 strategic health authorities throughout England. The service will operate from 15 Capio and 35 Nuffield sites (see attached maps). - 70% of procedures under this scheme will be orthopaedic, with the remainder being for other elective (planned, non-emergency) surgery - 24,850 operations will be completed over the 1 year contract period; all operations are additional to the NHS. - All staff working on these contracts will be additional to the NHS and represent an increase in capacity. Many of the doctors and nurses will be trained staff who already work in independent hospitals in England. Additional staff will come from Sweden, Ireland and other parts of Europe. All will have to be fully licensed and subject to all required UK clinical standards. - These contracts can start quickly because the operations are taking place in existing hospitals, rather than new build treatment centres. -------------------------------------------------------------------- GNNREF: 93510 Issued by : DOH Press Office Contact : If you have any queries relating to this press release, please forward this e-mail to the Press Office e-mail address provided above, or alternatively contact the originating Press Office by telephone. (Media queries only) Please DO NOT attempt to reply to the sender of this e-mail. The sender is involved solely as a broadcasting agent and cannot process e-mailed queries. 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