The private patients’ unit at Noble’s Hospital is to be closed for up to 18 months.

It was announced yesterday (Monday) that all private medical services at Noble’s Hospital will be suspended from January.

The temporary closure will allow for its complete refurbishment. Private healthcare at Noble’s will be rebranded.

There will be a new code of practice for consultants doing private work and new costing mechanisms. A third party operator may be brought in.

Health Minister David Ashford said the current unit was ’not fit for purpose’.

He insisted: ’I’m fully committed to private medical care as well as public. The service will be relaunched.

Mr Ashford said there had been a blurring of lines between private and NHS work and the changes will allow for a complete separation of the two. But consultants and one union leader have criticised the move.

The closure is expected to save just over £200,000 in one year, partly by redeploying staff.

But Mr Ashford said savings were not the main driver and the aim of providing a modern, fit for purpose facility was to provide a valuable income stream to support other health services.

One consultant, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Examiner: ’This will remove public choice and make recruitment and retention of consultants more difficult.

’Why would they want to work at Noble’s if there is no opportunity for them to do private health work for at least 18 months?

’Morale is already low among staff. There has been no consultation on this, and the future for existing consultants is completely unclear with regards to private practice.’

There will be no redundancies, staff in ward 19, the private medical ward, were informed last Friday.

Nurses, healthcare assistants and administrative staff will be offered equivalent roles elsewhere in the hospital.

There are currently 37 out of 55 consultants at Noble’s who are registered to undertake private patient work - but some only do limited private work here.

Mr Ashford said: ’We need to completely redesign the service. It is not up to scratch. But this is not just a refurbishment. We are doing this properly, not just tinkering around the edges. We need to put a proper cost mechanism in place on how things are charged. I don’t think there is a problem but we need to make it clear and transparent. It will give them clarity.’

He insisted: ’Some consultants are very supportive of what’s happening. Long-term they will actually benefit from this.’

Patients who have private medical care insurance will be sent off island if services are not provided here. But they will have to pay the associated additional travel costs.

Mr Ashford said the three-month notice period will allow time for patients who have paid to go private to make arrangements to complete scheduled treatments.

But from January, such patients will have to pay to get treatment in UK hospitals.

The private patients’ unit (PPU) opened at Noble’s in 2003. In recent years, income from private medical services has been falling.

Mick Hewer, negotiations officer for the Prospect union, said the announcement was ’badly handled’ and has left ’already demoralised staff feeling let down and disrespected’. Mr Hewer said: ’The timing was ill thought out.

’Our members were basically informed that something was happening last Monday and then left to worry until Friday when they attended a meeting. Some of them were visibly distressed.’

Mr Hewer said there was already pressure on beds at Noble’s with the closure of ward 5 and beds in PPU are often occupied by NHS patients when none were available elsewhere.

He added: ’While the department has said there will be no redundancies and staff will be redeployed around the hospital, our members are still feeling vulnerable.

’I don’t want to sound cynical but the Minister has said that the proposed closure will save approximately £200,000 which is handy when you are trying to balance the books.’

A Freedom of Information request earlier this year revealed that 36 consultants have left Noble’s in the past five years.

Mr Ashford confirmed that diabetes consultant Dr Emran Khan is on extended ’gardening leave’, and has been so for about a month.

He said: ’Dr Khan, consultant in diabetes and endocrinology, is on extended leave. For clarity, that means Dr Khan is still in the employment of Noble’s Hospital. The diabetes and endocrinology service remains operational and is being supported by a locum consultant.’