BUPA to deliver NHS services to North East patients

NHS patients in the North East will soon benefit from faster waiting times and more choice about where they can be treated.

BUPA Hospitals has signed a contract with the Department of Health to provide a range of NHS services to people in the North East of England as part of the national Phase 2 Independent Sector Treatment Centres programme.

BUPA will carry out approximately 6,000 procedures a year including general surgery, gynaecology, neurosurgery, orthopaedics, ear, nose and throat surgery and plastic surgery for NHS patients, north and south of the River Tyne. The first patient referrals are expected from south of the Tyne in June, with the first patients expected to be treated in July 2007.

BUPA is expanding its existing hospital at Washington and will be operating a new service from the North East NHS Surgery Centre in Gateshead, in partnership with Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust. Discussions are continuing with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust with a view to building a new treatment centre on the site of North Tyneside General Hospital. The contract will provide extra capacity and increase choice for patients living in the North East.

Dr Mike Prentice, chair of the Interim Integrated Professional Executive Committee for the Primary Care Trusts South of Tyne and Wear, said: "This is an opportunity for patients to get the treatment they need more quickly. They will be able to choose, in discussion with their GP, whether it's convenient for them to access this service and can then make a choice of being referred through normal routes or the new electronic system of Choose and Book. Much work has gone into developing this contract to ensure patients receive the highest standard of clinical care which we would expect from all providers offering services to NHS patients."

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 East 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 Hospital Washington. We are the first independent sector provider to do so."

BUPA Hospitals Ltd signed a similar contract with the Department of Health in the North West of England.

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