From todays Telegraph;
NHS trusts are using taxpayers’ money to fund private medical tests and treatment for staff while patients languish on record waiting lists, The Telegraph can disclose.
Hospitals and ambulance trusts are paying for employees to undergo private care ranging from MRI scans to physiotherapy and psychiatric care in London’s Harley Street.
In one case, a firm providing private physiotherapy to hospital staff in Hertfordshire said it had won the business because the trust wanted employees to get treatment “much more quickly” than the 14-week wait facing NHS patients.
Employees referred to the private company for treatment “receive an appointment within an average of 2.6 days”, the firm said. In another case, a hospital spent thousands of pounds on private health insurance for staff.
The funding means NHS staff will be seen more quickly than many members of the public waiting for equivalent tests or treatment from the health service. It was revealed in data obtained by Baker Kell Cumming, a political intelligence firm, from some 50 trusts.
Is this ethical?
