Get ready for "shoperations"!!

Op while you shop

By RICHARD CASEY, Mail on Sunday Last updated at 21:46pm on 11th November 2006

The NHS is in talks with Tesco about establishing 'car park surgeries'.

The NHS's new cure for waiting lists ... operations in supermarket car parks

NHS patients could be treated at mobile operating theatres set up in supermarket car parks in a bid to cut hospital waiting lists.

The scheme - dubbed Op While You Shop - will allow surgeons to carry out procedures for a range of conditions, including cataract and hernia problems, and bladder and orthopaedic complaints.

Nuffield Hospitals, the independent healthcare group that treats NHS patients under Government contracts, is in talks with supermarket chains Tesco and Morrisons about establishing the centres.

But The Patients Association reacted with alarm at the move, raising concerns about the risk of infection at the sites - and accusing the Government of cutting corners in its bid to cut waiting lists.

David Mobbs, Nuffield's chief executive, said the mobile theatres would be transported to the car parks on the back of a lorry.

He added: "The patients will have been referred by their GPs and there is no reason why some of them who have not had surgery cannot do their shopping and receive treatment during the same trip.

"We want to bring treatment closer to where people live and shop. This is the largest fleet of sophisticated mobile healthcare units ever deployed in the UK."

The first patients would be treated in June 2007 if the earmarked sites in Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire receive the necessary planning permission.

However, Katherine Murphy, of The Patients Association, said: "I don't care how minor an operation is being carried out, there is always a risk. We need a lot of convincing that facilities for an operation in a car park are as sterile and safe as possible.

"What happens if someone suddenly needs emergency care after going into one of these mobile units? How far will they be from a hospital?

"It strikes me this is the Government trying to reduce waiting lists by any means rather than extending primary healthcare facilities already in place, which we would favour."

The scheme forms part of a nationwide programme to treat 125,000 NHS patients in independent hospitals before 2009.

Fully sterile units would be located at the sites for up to three weeks at a time so friends or relatives could transport patients needing surgery.

West Midlands Strategic Health Trust said: "The idea is to give patients more choice and provide more services in their neighbourhoods. It is all about giving people access to better health facilities.

"They will be referred through the existing channels. This is seen as a particularly good development for people living in rural areas who cannot easily get to hospital."

Morrisons said: "We are discussing siting the units at four possible locations with the Department of Health."

Tesco added: "Car parks are busy places and these units would have to be situated carefully."

The idea has gathered support because many people live a long way from large hospitals and many community-based cottage hospitals are being phased out.

Nuffield was selected as the Department of Health's preferred bidder for the scheme last month. It is a member of the Department's Partners' Network, made up of 11 companies involved in the diagnosis and treatment of NHS patients.

Latest Government figures reveal 40,500 people are waiting more than 11 weeks for a first outpatient appointment in England.