Five private hospitals across Scotland will carry out elective surgery for NHS patients from this week, the Scottish government has announced.

It comes after three health boards suspend routine operations as they try to cope with rising numbers of covid-19 patients.

The independent sector hospitals will focus on urgent care and cancer treatment, including breast surgery, urology, and gynaecology.

Health boards received nearly £80m ahead of this winter to ‘enhance their elective activity’ by using private hospitals, the Golden Jubilee National Hospital and the NHS Louisa Jordan.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “The additional capacity provided by the independent sector, NHS Golden Jubilee and NHS Louisa Jordan is very welcome, and I am extremely grateful to all staff involved for their continued hard work.

“The Scottish government will continue to work closely with health boards to ensure those requiring urgent elective and vital cancer care can be seen as quickly and safely as possible

“Even as we expand our vaccination and testing programmes, the number of covid patients within our hospitals remains very high – so it is absolutely vital that people continue to stay home, protect the NHS, and save lives.”

The five private hospitals supporting the NHS include BMI hospitals in Aberdeen, Stirling and Glasgow, as well Edinburgh’s Spire Murrayfield and the Glasgow Nuffield Health hospital.

During the first wave, cancer patients had operations done at private hospitals because they provided a less covid-heavy environment for surgery to go ahead.

From the start of the pandemic to September the Scottish government had paid private health providers just under £20m for treating NHS patients, according to figures released to healthandcare.scot.

Glasgow’s NHS Louisa Jordan, which is also being used as a mass vaccination site, has carried out more than 10,000 procedures ranging from heart surgery to diagnostic tests such as endoscopies.

Meanwhile NHS Golden Jubilee national waiting times centre has carried out nearly 600 urgent cancer operations.

Welcoming the announcement, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh called for doctors' training to be protected.

Acting College president Professor Angela Thomas said: “This is a critical time for the healthcare system, so the College welcomes additional support to help deliver urgent elective procedures, such as cancer treatment.

"However, we must have assurances that if doctors in training are deployed to work in the independent sector, they will continue to receive the medical training that they need to aid their development.”

A Nuffield Health spokesperson said: “We welcome this opportunity to support NHS Lanarkshire and our Glasgow Hospital is committed to providing high quality care to people from nearby communities.

"As the UK’s largest healthcare charity, we’ve been proudly supporting the NHS in Scotland during the covid-19 pandemic, treating many NHS patients last year between March and October.”

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