A private Edinburgh hospital earned a slice of a £37 million pot of taxpayer cash to lend a hand to the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic, according to new documents.
Spire Murrayfield allowed the health service to take over its beds and wards on a contingency basis amid fears it could be overrun by a spiking number of cases last year.
Critics have said authorities have broken rules over delays to publishing the Covid agreements.
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But the Sunday Mail found Spire, along with Glasgow’s Nuffield hospital and BMI Ross Hall were paid £36.7m in contracts while the £43m NHS Louisa Jordan lay empty at the same time.
It is unknown what treatments were carried out at the facilities, though Spire has denied making any profit from the arrangement.
A spokesperson from the firm said it had given “vital care to patients in urgent need who otherwise would not have been seen and treated," adding: "“Overall, this was delivered at cost across different parts of the UK and no profit was made by Spire.”
The NHS Louisa Jordan opened inside Glasgow's SEC in April 2020 with initial capacity for 300 patients, but was never required to treat those affected by COVID-19 before it closed in March this year.
An NHS National Services Scotland spokesman said “a small number” of private firms had provided emergency capacity.
He added: “This secured additional capacity and guaranteed access to private healthcare facilities during a critical stage of the pandemic. All awards fully complied with the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.”
