NHS trust spent £76m on private mental health beds in eight years

  • 📰 nottslive
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 43 sec. here
  • 4 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 28%
  • Publisher: 52%

Nottinghamshire News

NHS,NHS

Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT), which is responsible for mental health care across the county, spent £14m on private beds in 2022/23

Nearly 500 patients have been moved to privately run mental health facilities in the last eight years, costing the taxpayer £76 million. Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust , which is responsible for mental health care across the county, spent £14m on private beds in 2022/23.

Like procedures such as eye, hip and knee operations, the NHS outsources mental health support to the private sector. This means trusts rely on private providers, some of whom can be situated miles away from patient's homes, for complex and expensive specialised care.The amount of cash spent on private beds steadily increased from £2m to £6.4m between 2015 and 2018, but ballooned to £11m in 2018/19.

This equates to a per-patient rise from £44,500 to £254,000. NHFT chief executive Ifti Majid said the costs had been driven by an increase in bed price. He said the upwards spending trend is likely to continue. "This mirrors the national picture of high demand for inpatient beds and an increase in the complexity of patients cared for, so not an issue unique to Nottinghamshire Healthcare," he said.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 96. in HEALTH

Health Health Latest News, Health Health Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust Urged to Listen to Patients' ComplaintsA Nottinghamshire healthcare trust has been urged by councillors to listen to patients' complaints after a review by the Care Quality Commission found that the trust didn't always keep patients and the public safe.
Source: nottslive - 🏆 96. / 52 Read more »

Anger meets Labour pledge to bring private healthcare into NHSLABOUR have made it “abundantly clear” that voting for them at the next General Election is voting to privatise the NHS, the SNP have said ...
Source: SunScotNational - 🏆 49. / 63 Read more »

Scottish Government respond to Cass Review on trans healthcare in NHSTHE Scottish Government has said it will “take the time to consider the findings” of the Cass Review into children’s gender services in…
Source: SunScotNational - 🏆 49. / 63 Read more »

Wes Streeting is walking into an NHS fight Labour has lost beforeThe NHS will never be able to cut out private healthcare
Source: i newspaper - 🏆 8. / 89 Read more »