One of the country’s busiest NHS trusts has sparked alarm after unveiling plans to raise more money from private patients.
Aiming to create a ‘revenue generation resource’, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) is looking to lease its facilities to a private provider to treat patients who are willing to pay.
Trust bosses insisted the controversial plan would allow money to be ‘reinvested in NHS staff, care and services’, MailOnline can reveal.
But campaigners, union leaders and MPs have attacked the proposal, warning it could lead to a two-tiered health service and worsen existing disadvantages faced by NHS patients.
Dr. John Puntis, co-chair of the Keep Our NHS Public campaign group, said: ‘FPatients who do not have the means to pay for private treatment (the vast majority) will be particularly disadvantaged by what they see as queues.’
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) wants to lease its facilities to a private provider to treat patients willing to pay
The retired pediatrician warned that poorer patients will face difficult decisions regarding ‘their financial priorities’.
On the other hand, Dr. argued. Puntis that patients who can afford private treatment at an NHS location will be concerned about ‘undermining NHS services by creating a two-tiered system’.
He also warned that the proposals from Leeds Teaching Hospitals had the potential to make waiting lists at the Trust even longer.
Dr. Puntis told MailOnline: ‘Consultants have to agree work plans and if they decide to spend more time on private work, they do less in the public sector where waiting lists then become longer.
‘There is only one workforce and it is already smaller than it should be.
‘A private unit will also need to employ a range of non-medical staff and these will all have been trained in the NHS.
Dr. Puntis also warned that the move could create conflicts of interest among NHS staff.
He said: ‘NHS patients will see doctors who also work for a private company and get part of their income from this, and they will say: ‘If you want quick treatment you can pay privately.’
NHS statistics show that at the end of November, more than 92,000 patients were waiting for treatment at Leeds Teaching Hospitals.
It means that Leeds, of more than 150 trusts in England, has the fifteenth largest deficit.
Additionally, 38 percent of patients in line waited longer than 18 weeks for their treatment plan to take effect.
NHS standards say 92 percent of patients should be seen within 18 weeks of referral.
The announcement was published by LTHT on a government procurement website on January 16.
It contains three objectives for the project.
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The first is to ‘provide patients with the opportunity to receive private healthcare at an LTHT site’, and the second to ‘support clinical LTHT teams providing private healthcare to do so at an LTHT site’.
The ultimate aim is to ‘create a source of income that allows money to be reinvested in NHS staff, care and services.’
It goes on to say that LTHT is looking to ‘work with’ private hospital operators who may be interested in a ‘collaboration’ in some or all locations.
The announcement also reads: ‘The Trust’s research suggests that there is a strong market opportunity for a private patient service offering specialist care at the St James’ University Hospital (SJUH) site.’
SJUH is home to the Leeds Cancer Center – one of the largest providers of cancer care in the UK.
Prolonged delays in cancer care have been one of the most pressing concerns within the NHS since the country emerged from the Covid pandemic.
Official NHS data for November shows that only 71.9 percent of patients referred urgently for suspected cancer were diagnosed or ruled out within 28 days. The goal is 75 percent.
Only 90.1 percent waited a month or less before starting their first cancer treatment after deciding to proceed with surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The target is 96 percent, but this has never been achieved.
Less than two-thirds (65.2 percent) of patients started their first cancer treatment within two months of an urgent referral.
According to NHS guidelines, 85 percent of cancer patients should be treated within this time frame. But again, this goal was never achieved.
LTHT, which boasts a taxpayer-funded budget of £1.4 billion, said exploratory meetings with interested parties would be held “as soon as practicable”, in March 2024.
UNISON said it understood the private provider would provide care at “all levels” – and not just special procedures.
Gary Cleaver, UNISON Yorkshire and Humberside regional organiser, said: ‘The NHS exists to ensure that high-quality healthcare can be provided to everyone who needs it. It doesn’t exist to make money.
“These plans are financially driven, they are not about best meeting the needs of the people of Leeds.
‘The proposals have the potential to leave the city’s poorest people in an even worse position.
‘The trust is in a difficult position after years of leaving the health service without government funding, but must reconsider these proposals.’
Lib Dem health spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said the plan was symptomatic of the government’s “neglect of our NHS”.
She said: ‘Millions are waiting in agony, watching the government get to grips with this crisis.
“People should not be forced to spend their own money to get the urgent care they need.”
An LTHT spokesperson defended the announcement, claiming it would benefit both the trust and the local community.
They said: ‘It is very important to us that any potential partnership will in no way hinder our ability to provide NHS care.
‘Many trusts of a similar size are already doing this and it can be a valid and essential way to support and deliver new investment in NHS services.
‘In addition, it would create new jobs, opportunities and economic benefits for Leeds and the region.’
However, the spokesperson added that the Trust is currently only ‘exploring the market’ and is ‘not obliged to do anything’.
The trust already treats some private patients at its sites.
Its website states that a major advantage of having a private operation at the trust is that if something goes wrong during a procedure, taxpayer-funded specialist and emergency care is readily available there, unlike some private hospitals.
LTHT did not respond to MailOnline’s request to know how much money from its private patient business had previously been reinvested in NHS staff, care and services.
The furor over LTHT’s private expansion comes after it emerged that the NHS had canceled cancer and hip operations during the Covid pandemic, while continuing to carry out breast enlargements and rhinoplasties for private patients.
NHS trusts are allowed to supplement their usual taxpayer-funded income by selling private services on the side.
According to the guidelines, they should ‘ideally’ provide private treatment in a separate building, but this could be in another part of the hospital or ‘outside NHS hours’.
