Spire Healthcare reports profit and cash gains as its NHS work grows

Spire Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest private hospital groups, has reported a rise in earnings and profits as it continues to deliver more work for the NHS and the benefits of a takeover. while private insurance among working-age people.

The FTSE 250-listed company, which runs 39 hospitals and more than 50 clinics, said its work with the NHS had increased in the first half of the year, as the health service outsourced more procedures to the private sector. and patients exercise the right to vote. where they receive treatment.

“Spire is committed to working with the new government to help tackle NHS waiting lists,” said Justin Ash, chief executive of Spire. “The waiting lists would be very long if we weren’t doing what we’re doing.”

The NHS waiting list was 7.62m cases in June, with 3.13m of these patients waiting more than 18 weeks. The average waiting time for treatment was 14.3 weeks, almost and double the wait before the 7.5 week pandemic in June 2019.

Lord Ara Darzi’s review, commissioned by Labor when the party came to power in July, found that years of neglect of the NHS by previous governments had led to long delays in hospital, GP and services. of mental health, resulting in the unnecessary deaths of thousands. and breaking the “social contract between the NHS and the people”.

Keir Starmer set out his vision for the health service on Thursday, saying it would not get “any more funding without change”.

Ash said: “We work with ICBs [integrated care boards] and I’m particularly hoping at the moment to help them get the 65-week waiting list down.” Spire has a partnership with Sussex ICB, which is responsible for planning health services for residents of it.

Long NHS waiting times are causing many people to go private and take out health insurance. While larger employers have long offered discounted insurance as a benefit to their employees, some small and medium-sized firms are now following suit. Spire carries out occupational health MOTs, and has invested in its own mental health and physiotherapy services.

Ash said more people under 35 were choosing private health insurance, either through their workplace or individually, while there had been a decline in the number of people paying for private treatment. , except those over 65 years of age.

The hospital group has seen a growing demand for orthopedics such as hip and knee replacements, mental health therapy – referrals for anxiety and depression – and cancer surgery and chemotherapy .

NHS cancer targets continue to be missed. The percentage of patients receiving their first cancer treatment within two months was 67.4%, the latest data showed, well below the target of 85%.

skip the previous content ad

after the news release

Spire’s pre-tax profit rose 11.8% to £22.7m in the first six months of the year, while revenues rose 12.7% to £762.5m. It expects annual profits to be between £255m and £275m this year, after raising £130.6m in the first half.

Its work for the NHS made up a quarter of the tax. The firm said hospital admissions and outpatient procedures were flat at 225,659. Average revenue per case rose by 4.7% to £3,495.

It invested £51.5m in technology such as robotics for orthopedics and oncology, as well as artificial intelligence-driven MRI machines, which reduce the time it takes to scan a body part such as the knee from 25 minutes to seven minutes.

Spire plans to open 10 new clinics in the coming years, including a second in Harrogate later this year, and recently opened in Abergele, north Wales.