§ Mr. MartlewTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements North Cumbria health authority has made with West Cumbria Health Care Trust to have patients treated in the private ward of West Cumbria Hospital; and if he will make a statement. [138617]
§ Mr. HuttonThe North Cumbria health authority has negotiated a contract with West Cumbria Health Care National Health Service Trust whereby NHS patients, who would otherwise face a long wait for hernia, varicose vein or laparoscopic cholecystectomy treatment in the Carlisle Hospitals NHS Trust, are treated in the Cumbria Clinic at the West Cumberland Hospital, Whitehaven.
The health authority and primary care groups consider this to be an appropriate and effective use of NHS resources to bring waiting times to within more acceptable levels and is entirely in line with the Government's recently announced "Concordat" with the private sector.