Ex-private hospital hits target

The hospital was bought from the private sector

A private hospital which was bought to cut National Health Service waiting lists has beaten its target, the Scottish Executive has said.

The Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank carried out 18,509 operations over the year to March.

Health Minister Andy Kerr said the target set had been 18,362.

The hospital had 32 beds and carried out 2,500 procedures a year when it was bought by the health service in July 2002 for £37.5m.

Mr Kerr said the facility had recorded a "superb achievement".

He added: "The Golden Jubilee is unique in the UK and has proved a huge asset for Scotland.

I feel very proud that the staff's dedicated hard work has exceeded all expectations and brought about such an excellent result Jill Young Golden Jubilee Hospital

"It has immeasurably improved the quality of life for many thousands of people who otherwise faced long waits.

"It is also making a huge contribution to reducing waits for scans and other diagnostic tests."

In March, criticism was voiced that the hospital had been under-performing on heart and orthopaedic operations.

However, Mr Kerr insisted at the time that the Golden Jubilee could meet its target.

The Scottish National Party's health spokeswoman, Shona Robison, said in response to the new figures: "We welcome any targets met and any improvements in the Golden Jubilee Hospital's performance, given it has been so under-utilised recently."

New service

Staff at the hospital are now carrying out seven times more procedures than before the facility was brought into the NHS from the Abu Dhabi Investment Company.

The Golden Jubilee has 100 beds, a new catheterisation lab, state-of-the-art orthopaedic theatres and a brand new MRI scanning suite.

The executive said hip and knee-joint replacements rose last year by 39% to 1,045 and general operations almost doubled to 1,663, while eye procedures rose by 47%.

Plans have been drawn up for a cardio-thoracic service to be based at the Golden Jubilee serving the whole of the West of Scotland.

The executive aims for staff at the facility to complete 28,000 procedures a year by 2007/08.

The facility's chief executive officer Jill Young said: "We knew we'd been set very exacting targets for this past year but it was a challenge we were determined to meet.

"I feel very proud that the staff's dedicated hard work has exceeded all expectations and brought about such an excellent result for not only ourselves but for patients from all over the country."