NHS TAKES OVER ALL PRIVATE HOSPITALS IN ENGLAND

[Cookham v Coronavirus]

The entire capacity of the private hospital sector in England will be used to treat NHS patients, there will be no private work as of 30 March.

The agreement will provide nearly 20,000 extra staff to help manage the surge in cases, NHS England said.

The arrangement, which in effect puts the whole private hospital sector under contract to the government, will start on Monday 30 March.

It came as the UK death toll from the virus rose to 233 on Saturday, while the number of confirmed infections reached 5,018.

Under the terms of the agreement, private hospitals will not make a profit, undertaking the work at cost.

The deal, the first of its kind, will provide 8,000 more hospital beds across England, nearly 1,200 more ventilators, more than 10,000 nurses, over 700 doctors and over 8,000 other clinical staff.

In London alone it will provide more than 2,000 hospital beds, and over 250 operating theatres and critical beds.

NHS England said the extra resources “will not only be available to treat coronavirus patients, but will also help the NHS deliver other urgent operations and cancer treatments” that NHS hospitals may be too stretched to provide.