20 February 2004
The independent sector's role in providing publicly funded health care increased this week with the announcement of five new fast-track surgery centres in the south of England.
The Department of Health announced that Mercury Healthcare Ltd has been chosen as preferred bidder for the new treatment centres at Haywards Heath, Havant, Medway, Portsmouth and High Wycombe. They will perform a mixture of general surgery, trauma, orthopaedic and diagnostic procedures.
The new centres are in addition to the 24 independently run units announced last September, and will treat almost 19,000 patients a year when they open in April 2005. It is believed the five-year contract will be worth £190m.
Health minister Stephen Ladyman said: 'These treatment centres will provide extra staff and capacity to help the NHS treat more patients in these areas. That is why, on top of NHS-run treatment centres, we are also working with the independent sector.'
However, it was not all good news for Mercury. In September, it was selected as preferred bidder for a chain of ten treatment centres but then the DoH announced it had switched preferred bidder status to Capio UK.
The department said Capio UK would be more suitable for this contract, which involves centres in east Cornwall, east and west Lincolnshire, Oxford and Southampton, among other sites.
'Bidders must also match the department's stringent requirements for value for money,' it added.
Mercury's chief executive, Peter Martin, said it had withdrawn from those negotiations after significant changes had shifted the emphasis from day care to a greater proportion of in-patient surgery.
'This did not fit with our original proposals and we were unable to agree variations that provided an economic return while maintaining the integrity of the Mercury model,' he added.
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