Spire Healthcare asked to support NHS amid Covid-19 pandemic

Private hospital provider Spire Healthcare has been asked to provide support to the NHS during growing coronavirus pressures.

Following a meeting with NHS England and representatives from across the private sector to discuss future Covid-19 planning, Spire has been asked for, and has offered, its support to the NHS during this challenging time.

‘The exact nature, extent and the timing of this support is yet to be determined; in the meantime, we continue to offer a full service to our patients,’ Spire said.

This announcement follows news that the independent sector could provide additional capacity to the NHS in the wake of an upsurge in coronavirus cases.

It is thought that most of the additional capacity provided by the independent sector would be used to ensure the continuation of planned surgery. There are relatively few intensive care beds across the independent sector and those that do exist are concentrated in major cities. However, there has been an increase in high dependency beds as hospital providers have focused on higher acuity activity.