Firm run by NHS doctors makes millions charging to cut wait lists

Concerns about patient safety and a conflict of interest have been raised by a union over a private firm’s multimillion-pound hospital contract to tackle waiting lists.

Bristol-based NHS consultants Dr Matthew Molyneux and Dr Neil Rasburn run Glanso UK, which uses some NHS facilities and staff for out-of-hours operations.

Trade union Unison has warned of a conflict of interest, as the pair operate privately for their NHS employer. It said it also feared NHS staff working extra hours were at risk of burnout.

Glanso, which declared profits of £2.6m in the past year, said insourcing could be cheaper for the NHS than outsourcing and staff hours could be better monitored to ensure patient safety.

Insourcing sees private companies work outside normal hours and pay to use spare operating theatre capacity.

In Glanso UK’s case, it pays a portion of the money it receives as part of its contracts to the hospitals it uses. It is all within the rules and no-one is compelled to work extra shifts, it says.

The firm may use its own anaesthetists and theatre staff, but often relies on support staff and infrastructure from the host NHS trust.

Glanso UK has so far employed 450 staff at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston (UHBW), where Dr Molyneux and Dr Rasburn work for the NHS, as well as Barnstaple, Exeter and Nottingham.

Glanso UK founder, UHBW consultant anaesthetist Dr Rasburn, told the BBC the firm came into its own during the Covid lockdown when operating theatres were generally closed for routine work.

Dr Rasburn said, for example, that a typical NHS list saw 2.7 gallbladder operations completed a day.

But he said his firm’s teams were able to “go much quicker” as they were made up of only senior clinicians and theatre staff, who were not teaching as they worked.

He said a Glanso list on a Saturday would complete seven cases.

“What we found in working this way, [is that] we got through more cases for any given time,” he added.

Dr Rasburn said Glanso UK’s model was safe, adding people volunteering for shifts were able to work in their own environment, with their colleagues, which he said also “helps with the efficiency”.

He said Glanso UK had treated more than 1,000 children since 2019.

While the government has said it wants to increase the role of the private sector to help reduce NHS waiting times, Unison says it has a number of concerns.

The union’s policy officer, Guy Collis, said it was particularly worried about whether “underpaid” NHS staff may “feel the temptation to do this kind of work”.

He said: “We know there is a real issue around burnout amongst NHS staff at the moment, so we would want to be very certain that trusts were putting in place the necessary procedures to make sure that they weren’t making this worse for the staff.

“We want to make sure patient safety is preserved and staff wellbeing is protected.”

Over the past few years, Glanso has expanded and its declared profits for the past year were £2.6m.

Mr Collis said: “I think there’s something wrong generally here if people are seeking to use waiting lists to make millions [of pounds].

“We know what has happened in the past when private operators have been involved with the NHS.

“They will tend to cherry-pick the easiest operations. This potentially leaves the NHS carrying the can.”

But Dr Rasburn told the BBC the reverse was true, saying: “Because we are in the NHS hospital, and we can access other facilities, we don’t necessarily have to cherry-pick.

“Patients are in there for very good reason, because they’ve got lots of other complications. Because we have all the facilities, we can deal with those.”

There are concerns Glanso UK has been able to operate so far without competition from other private companies in all specialties, apart from eye surgery.

The joint chief executive for North Bristol NHS Trust and UHBW, Maria Kane, has said she wants to review the situation.

“Ideally we would want to ensure the NHS is providing all these services as part of our routine work,” she added.

She also conceded competitive tendering “probably” should have happened years ago.

But since the BBC raised the question, the trust has decided to invite tenders for the work in the future.