Hospitals in Ipswich have proposed to open its doors to dogs and cats to raise extra funds . The proposal is said to be the first-of-its-kind in the country.
The hospital trust is said to use its state-of-the-art radiotherapy equipment to help to treat family pets with cancer during special Saturday morning clinics .
The hospital trust is in debt to the tune of £24 million. This scheme aims to raise £50,000 a year that will be enough to pay two nurse’s wages.
Andrew Lansley, health secretary, said, “These are the lengths the NHS is being driven to by the Government's financial mismanagement and the way deficits are impacting on hospitals. One would normally expect NHS equipment to be fully occupied providing services to NHS patients.”
Katherine Murphy, spokeswoman for the Patient’s Association said that she was horrified by the idea.
She said, “Do we really have to resign ourselves to such desperate measures as to begin treating animals where people are treated? Is this really the way forward?
“I hope this idea never gets off the ground. I think it is a disaster waiting to happen.
There are so many issues surrounding this such as infection. Surely there are other ways of identifying areas where costs could be reduced?
“We have got vets and premises that are ideal for animals. Let's keep hospitals for
humans.”
Jan Rowsell, a hospital spokeswoman said that radiotherapy staff came up with the new and controversial idea to try and help solve the hospital's cash crisis.
She said, “We have no waiting lists for radiotherapy equipment at the moment and there would be absolutely no question of us doing this if we did.
“No patient will be disadvantaged by this. Our state-of-the-art equipment is used to deliver very high calibre treatment for patients. Our radiotherapy staffs has a special interest in this field and wanted to explore whether the equipment could be used in this way on a Saturday morning when nobody is using it. The important thing to stress is that this is only a proposal at the moment.”
