NHS trust considers carrying out private operations

The plan was raised in a report to the board of Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

An NHS trust in Surrey is looking at the possibility of having private operations at a new elective surgery centre.

The Surrey Heartlands Elective Centre, which is based at Ashford Hospital, is due to be fully open by the summer.

Papers for a board meeting of the Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust describe the plan as “an opportunity to develop a competitive private practice option for the self-pay market".

The trust said it did not have “immediate short term plans” to offer the service, but it would "enable reinvestment in our core NHS services".

The board meeting report said it “would be positioned in an ethical way, delivering a more affordable route to private treatment".

The elective centre is part of a major project to have more operations at Ashford Hospital.

It will include a dedicated eye unit and orthopaedic procedures, such as hip and knee replacement surgery.

The trust told the Health Service Journal that the proposal was at an early stage.

A trust spokesperson said: “While this is an idea we are considering as part of our overall strategy we have no immediate short-term plans to utilise capacity for private patients.

"Any details on numbers and pricing have not been developed at this stage and any future developed would be positioned in line with our ethical values and enable reinvestment in our core NHS services that are more vulnerable under the current NHS financial regime."

The spokesperson said it was "not at all uncommon" for NHS trusts to have "a dimension of private practice, particularly utilising non-core hours when standard operating lists aren’t running."

The spokesperson added that private operating is "an added tool for recruiting and retaining clinical talent" and it "may offer an opportunity to build a capability to reinvest in improvement across our full range of services and facilities" across elective and emergency care.

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