Hundreds of patients from Bury are choosing to be treated at a private hospital in Salford instead of waiting for treatment at sites run by the NHS.
There has been a “significant” increase in NHS patients choosing to book appointments at Oaklands Hospital for trauma and orthopaedics, gastroenterology, gynaecology and general surgery.
The service these patients access at Oaklands is a provided on behalf of the NHS, although people may choose to be treated there privately.
A total of 392 more trauma and orthopaedics bookings at Oaklands between April and December 2019 than there were in the same period in 2018.
However, this is in the context of increases across other providers where, during the same period, there were approximately 300 more bookings at other NHS provider sites as well.
Deputy chief officer and director of commissioning and business delivery Margaret O’Dwyer said that the move has helped cut waiting lists.
She said: “We need to get a sense of how long people are waiting. If we don’t do anything that is just going to grow and grow and grow.”
Bury clinical commissioning group chief finance officer Mike Woodhead was asked about the cost of outsourcing services to a private hospital at a governing body meeting last week.
He said: “We have really seen an increase in spend there. From a financial point of view, it’s about what’s most cost effective. It’s more about the system cost than anything else for me.”
