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Private patient income has been described as key in Health's continuous battle to bring down – and keep down – hospital waiting times, as it was confirmed that MRI waits had been reduced from 54 weeks to seven in the space of three months.
Both of the General Hospital's MRI scanners have been running concurrently since September, generating nearly a quarter-of-a-million in private patient income.
Consultant radiologist Dr Salman Zaman explained that the "win-win situation" is an "example where [private patient] income has actually subsidised and brought down the waiting list" for other patients.
In September, patients had been waiting 54 weeks for a scan to be carried out – a situation described as "untenable" by Dr Zaman.
Dr Zaman, who has worked in Jersey for more than a decade, explained that the rise in demand was due to improvements in healthcare and technology, which had in turn led to a 7% year-on-year rise in referrals for an MRI scan.
However, waiting times have now been cut to seven weeks, and are expected to be further reduced to six weeks before the end of the year.
This is because a second machine that was previously acting as a back-up is now in full operational following a £150,000 funding injection which has helped recruit three specialist locum employees, while paying existing staff to work overtime in what was described as a "two-pronged approach".
Pictured: The Hospital's second MRI scanner – which was previously acting as a back-up – is now in full operational use.
Each MRI scanner is capable of scanning around 150 patients per week – with a split of around 70% public patients and 30% private.
The private intake, Dr Zaman explained, is actually key in bringing waiting times down.
He said that the "substantial" number of private patients had since generated £230,000 in fees that the Hospital would otherwise have missed out on.
He said it wasn't correct that private patients "supplant States patients who have to wait longer", adding: "...This is actually an example where that income has actually subsidised and brought down the waiting list – so it's a win-win situation."
Pictured: Dr Salman Zaman is a consultant radiologist at the Hospital.
The department is planning to make permanent staff appointments to bolster the radiology team in 2024, while a business case has also been put forward to increase the scanners' capacity, so they can be used 24 hours a day.
It comes as senior health staff continues to work to alleviate the department's financial woes, which recently was likened to a "bankrupt" UK council.
Financial Recovery Director and Change Team Finance lead, Obi Hasan, said: “We have managed to cut the waiting lists for the MRI scanners by 61%, which is an incredible achievement.
"It is testament to the hard work and dedication of the team and perfectly illustrates the ethos of our financial recovery plan.”
Mr Hasan previously told Express that income generation as “a big opportunity” for Jersey's health service – where the public purse would benefit from more income from private patients who have the money to spend on health insurance but go to the UK or elsewhere for treatment.
Speaking about staff in the radiography department, he said: “We trusted them, we invested the money, we allowed them to have a second scanner and invested in hiring more staff to do it."
Mr Hasan promised that trying to generate more income can’t mean prioritising richer patients, stressing that waiting lists have gone down for both groups.
“The leadership that we have in place now, we're absolutely committed to the public benefit, because it's a public service.
“All patients are patients. Whether you’re public or private is irrelevant as far as we're concerned… we treat by clinical urgency.
“We must do both public and private, but we can never do one at the expense of the other. And that works both ways."
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