Spire to manage trust's private patient unit

The trust tendered the service last year after reporting the unit had “significantly under-performed” in 2011-12.

A report to the trust’s March board said: “Following considerable interest generated in a recent tendering exercise… an initial scoping exercise undertaken in the last quarter of 2011 pointed to potentially significant uplifts being achievable.”

But the trust said it had only factored a more modest £95,000 extra income from the unit into its 2012-13 plans.

In an announcement Spire said many of the 30 consultants working in its Bushey hospital had trained at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.

Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital chief executive Rob Hurd said: “We are looking forward to working in partnership with Spire to help the RNOH realise its plans to improve private patient care facilities on our Stanmore site. This will enhance the NHS services the RNOH provides.

“We hope that we can bring together our expertise in providing world class orthopaedic services and enhance this with Spire’s knowledge of the private orthopaedic market.”   

Hospital director at Spire Bushey Hospital Melvin Robson said: “It’s rewarding that our dedication and expertise in the orthopaedic arena has been recognised and we look forward to implementing changes to grow the private patient numbers to support the wider plans of rebuilding the site.”