AROUND 160 consultant surgeons could have been hired by the Western Trust for the same money paid to private health providers to carry out orthopaedic elective surgery locally alone in the past four years.
With tens of millions more being forked out to private companies to carry out other elective procedures, and this spending increasing by the year with little visible impact on waiting lists, questions are now being asked about why this money isn’t being spent on hiring much-needed staff for the NHS and establishing pay parity to help retain existing staff.
New figures uncovered by campaign group Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) show that in the past four years £150 million has been paid from the public purse to private providers to carry out elective procedures across the North, and the number is increasing by the year.
These contracts, which were awarded with no competition, were paid to a number of different providers to carry out elective procedures across a number of specialties.
The highest payments went to a company called 3fivetwo Healthcare Solutions, part of the Kingsbridge Healthcare Group, which received over £46 million over the past four years.
Others included Musgrave House, which was paid £15.8 million, Alliance Clinical which was paid £14.3 million, Sports Surgery Clinic which was paid £13.8 million, and Alliance Medical which received £10.8 million.
Jimmy Hamill, pictured left, from SOAS is a management account. He explained SOAS obtained the figures from the Business Services Organisation, one of the arms-length bodies of the Department of Health. He also noted there was no tendering as they were what are known as ‘direct award contracts’.
The campaign group focused specifically on the money paid to carry out elective procedures.
“We have checked eight years of figures and there was zero spent in the first four years of the eight years that we checked, on elective care,” said Mr Hamill.
“It was all spent in the last four years and there seems to be very much an accelerated spend. The spend trebled between 2024 and 2023, from £20 million to £65 million.”
Mr Hamill pointed out the huge sums did not appear to be having an impact on waiting lists.
“That’s disturbing from the point of view of a procurement process where one of the key messages is around value for money,” he added.
“So to see such a dramatic increase so quickly would lead us to seriously question if there is proper value for money and oversight being carried out with regard to these contracts.”
With regard a breakdown of the numbers, Mr Hamill continued, “By far, of the £150 million the most significant speciality is orthopaedic, on which £40 million has been spent. Of that £40 million, it’s been all spent between the Western Trust and the Southern Trust. The Western Trust is the highest, with £20.5 million.”
Mr Hamill noted that this spend on by the Western Trust on orthopaedic procedures alone could’ve paid for over 160 full time surgeons locally, based on a generous salary estimate of £125k per surgeon.
Pointing out the fact a recent DoH document confirmed SWAH’s theatre suitability for elective orthopaedic, gynaecological, and general surgery, Mr Hamill said, “We’re asking the question, why are both the Western Trust and the Department of Health not focusing on getting elective orthopaedic work into SWAH, using already available capacity, rather than just handing the money to these independent companies?”
Noting the among of wasted money in the health system, at a time the public is continuously being told budgets are tight, Mr Hamill concluded, “The NI Audit Office issued a paper last year last year on public procurement in Northern Ireland.
“Their conclusion was that current structures and arrangements have not provided effective leadership, governance and accountability in public procurement.
“SOAS is genuinely concerned about this kind of accelerated expenditure, in the absence of appropriate governance and accountability.”
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