Concerns raised over 'privatisation' in NHS and financial risk as new South Tyneside District Hospital diagnostic centre discussed
The application from South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (STSFT) aims to tackle pressures around diagnostics while slashing waiting lists.
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Hide AdIn addition, the £10million facility would offer a specialist PET-CT scanner pinpointing cancer cells and saving patients a trip to hospitals in Middlesbrough or Newcastle.
Investment has been made possible due to a partnership between STSFT and Alliance Medical which have provided mobile diagnostic vans to the trust for more than 10 years, alongside providing PET-CT scanning across the entire NHS.
It is understood that Alliance Medical will front the capital cost of the diagnostic centre building and provide diagnostic services at the facility for more than 10 years, with the trust paying a fee ‘per scan.’
Health bosses have previously said the building would continue to be owned by the trust at the end of this agreed time-frame.
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Hide AdThe proposals were discussed by South Tyneside Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Coordinating and Call-in (OSCC) Committee at a meeting on Tuesday, October 5.
Councillors on the OSCC committee, including many who are members of Save South Tyneside Hospital campaign, welcomed the proposals.
However questions were raised about the nature of the NHS trust’s agreement with Alliance Medical and potential financial risks.
Councillor Geraldine Kilgour said there was “a real feel in some quarters” that the proposals represented a “privatisation” of part of the NHS.
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Hide AdMeanwhile, councillor Ed Malcolm asked for the committee to be provided with “more in-depth analysis” on the costs involved in the agreement.
Peter Sutton, executive director of planning and business development at STSFT, stressed the partnership would provide a sustainable model for diagnostic services, while improving local access and addressing health inequalities.
“The model that we’re going to be using in the new diagnostic centre is pay-per-scan,” he said.
“The NHS has a series of national tariffs, so if you look down there’s a payment for a CT scan or a payment for an MRI scan, those payments can differ depending on what type of scan it is or whether they use contracts or don’t use contracts.
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Hide Ad“That will be the basis of a business model that we will arrive at with Alliance Medical in terms of using national tarriffs in terms of pay-by-scan.
“That’s actually more cost-effective than the current model we have and provide.”
He added: “So we actually do expect that from a value for money point of view, this would be more cost-effective than our current arrangements because it is on a more sustainable basis in terms of the development.”
Councillors heard that Alliance Medical had a strong track record of working with STSFT and other NHS trusts across the country.
While confirming that STSFT could face large costs if its agreement with Alliance Medical was abandoned early into the partnership, health bosses said they did not expect this to happen.
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Hide AdCouncillor David Francis said he had concerns that there could be a “financial disincentive” for the trust to move away from the partnership with Alliance Medical if standards dropped in future.
But health trust representative Peter Sutton, responding, stressed that “quality and safety will always come ahead of finance” in terms of providing services for patients.