BUPA Signs NHS Contract To Offer More Choice To Patients In The North West

BUPA has signed a contract with the Department of Health to provide a range of NHS services to people in Cheshire and Merseyside.

This is the first of fifteen elective schemes in Phase 2 of the Department of Health's Independent Sector Treatment Centres (ISTC) Programme to reach final agreement and contract signature.

BUPA will carry out approximately 6,000 procedures a year for NHS patients in the area including general surgery, gynaecology, neurosurgery, orthopaedics, ear, nose and throat surgery and plastic surgery.

Under the agreement, facilities will be provided by BUPA's three hospitals in the North West, BUPA Murrayfield Hospital, Wirral, BUPA Manchester Hospital and BUPA North Cheshire Hospital in Warrington. In addition, BUPA will also be offering services through partner hospitals operated by Classic Hospitals in Liverpool, Macclesfield and Wrexham and by BMI Healthcare in Crewe.

The contract will help to provide extra capacity and increase choice for patients living in the North West. The first patient referrals are expected in May with the first patients expected to be treated in June 2007.

Clare Hollingsworth, managing director of BUPA Hospitals Ltd, said: "We are delighted to have the opportunity to work in partnership with the NHS in the North West to provide the best possible services for patients. As part of our commitment to patients and GPs we have put easy-to-read outcomes data about clinical and service quality for all BUPA Hospitals online, including BUPA Hospitals Manchester, Murrayfield and North Cheshire. We are the first independent sector provider to do so."

BUPA opened a prototype treatment centre, Redwood Diagnosis and Treatment Centre, in 2003. The centre has now treated more than 40,000patients for the NHS in Surrey. In a recent survey 88 percent of patients rated their care as either "excellent" or "very good" , with 72 percent of consultants rating the centre "excellent" or "very good" . BUPA Redwood has helped the local NHS to reduce waiting lists considerably.

BUPA re-invests all surpluses in the healthcare business and has no shareholders. BUPA operates 25 hospitals and one Diagnosis and Treatment Centre.