£9.04m spent by Western Trust on private health care; an eight-fold increase

Information released by the Department of Health’s Strategic Planning and Performance Group show £9.04m was spent on private health care providers in the Western Trust in 2021/22.

This was an eight-fold increase from £1.17m in 2017/18.

The figures, released to the People Before Profit MLA, Gerry Carroll, show the Western Trust had the third highest expenditure on private providers of all the health authorities in the north in 2021/22 after the Belfast Trust (£22.83m) and the South Eastern Trust (£14.60m).

The total expenditure across the north in the 2021/22 financial year was £59m, up from £16.79 in 2017/18.

Mr. Carroll commented: “Our health service is at breaking point and yet huge sums are being handed to the private healthcare sector.”

The West Belfast MLA said services ‘should be delivered in our own hospitals’.