UK’s London Clinic & Bupa Cromwell Hospital report revenue drop

The decline in international patients from the Middle East has continued to hit London’s private patient market.

Bupa-owned Medical Services International (MSI), which operates London’s Cromwell Hospital, has reported another year of revenue decline as the number of self-pay patients continues to fall. Revenue was down 7% to £95m for the year ended 31 December 2017, following a of 3% decrease in 2016.

The London Clinic has also recently reported that a 15% drop in international patient numbers had contributed to a 5% fall in revenue to £136.2m.Both have been hit by the slowdown in patients from the Gulf states due to the fall in oil prices.

The Cromwell said patient volumes had increased during the year but the change in payor mix towards higher numbers of insured patients had lowered revenue.

The London Clinic, which is currently London’s largest private standalone facility, announced a 5% fall in revenue to £136.2m in the year ended 31 December 2017 following a 5.4% drop in admissions to 21,579. Stay lengths also continued to reduce, with total patient days down 11% to 41,314. The Clinic Trustees said the retirement of some of its leading consultants had impacted activity but indicated that reduced demand from the Middle East, particularly in the third quarter, was behind the fall in performance. Revenue from international patients was down 15% during the period and despite a year-on-year increase in overall revenue during the fourth quarter, the charity said trading in early 2018 had continued to see lower levels of activity from Middle East embassies.