THE COMPANY that has provided private healthcare in Ward 4 of the South West Acute Hospital will be gone from the hospital at the end of this year, the Fermanagh Herald can reveal.
It is unclear what the future for private healthcare is for the hospital with the Western Trust confirming that a decision has not been made regarding how Ward 4 will be used once the lease ends.
Private health company 3FiveTwo healthcare, which has been using a ward at the hospital to provide private healthcare said: “If there are sufficient volumes of work to require occupancy we will seek to renew the lease.”
The company has had use of 24 beds in the ward, out of the 300 in the hospital. It also has use of one of the hospital’s operating theatres.
Mark Regan, development director, 3FiveTwo group said that the company had been working on site for 18 months.
“We were the first institution to bring orthopaedics to the facility and invested hundreds of thousands of pounds to facilitate the commencement of the service. This was delivered at no expense to the public purse. The fact we returned finance into the system when using the facility was an added bonus for the trust. We were the first company to deliver complex spinal surgery along with hip and knee replacements in the western trust outside of Altnagelvin.”
He added: “If we were to continue with the lease this would have a profound positive impact on the local community, who are being afforded the opportunity to have surgery without the need to travel to Belfast.”
With regards to financial aspects of the lease, Mr Regan said: “When 3FiveTwo leased the unoccupied aspects of the SWAH facility, the payment went directly toward the payment the trust was having to make towards its own lease obligations, in effect helping the trust make the most effective use of resources while returning money back to the trust, kindling local employment and facilitating patient needs for local care.”
He added: “The actual fee is commercially sensitive and can’t be disclosed. Suffice to say that every pound paid went directly to the trust for a facility that would have otherwise remained unused. This can only be a positive initiative for the trust, the local economy and, most importantly, the patients.”
A spokesman from the Western Trust said: “The lease like all business contracts runs for a specified time span.
“The Trust has yet to make a decision on the usage of Ward 4. All health care providers will be free to bid for a lease if the trust decides to lease in 2015.”
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