UK hospital considers opening doors 'to cats and dogs' » Health » 24dash.com

A cash-strapped hospital's plans to open its doors to dogs and cats in a bid to raise extra funds have been branded a "disaster waiting to happen".

Ipswich Hospital is proposing to use its state-of-the-art radiotherapy equipment, which lies dormant at weekends, to treat family pets with cancer in special Saturday morning clinics.

The proposal - believed to be the first of its kind in the country - is one of the measures included in the hospital's financial recovery plan, drawn up to help pay debts of more than £24 million.

Bosses have estimated it could earn the hospital around £50,000 a year - enough to pay two nurses' wages.

But the measure was criticised tonight as a symptom of "financial mismanagement" and potentially dangerous to patients.

Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley 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."

Patients' Association spokeswoman Katherine Murphy said she was horrified by the idea.

"Do we really have to resign ourselves to such desperate measures as to begin treating animals where people are treated?" she said. "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."

Hospital spokeswoman Jan Rowsell said that radiotherapy staff came up with the controversial idea to try and help solve the hospital's cash crisis.

"More than 700 ideas were generated by staff to find ways of increasing the money that we have or to find better ways of saving money," she said. "This was one of them."

She continued: "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 staff have 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.

"I am told that radiotherapy has proved to be very effective in treating dogs and cats with cancer.

"We are looking into the possibility of teaming up with a veterinary school as we have the equipment and staff who are skilled at using it, but we would need the specialist veterinary knowledge as well."

Ms Rowsell said that if the idea became a reality the hospital would use stringent infection control procedures.

"Everything will be covered in anti-allergy drapes and hygiene will be of the utmost importance," she said.

"The radiotherapy room would be thoroughly deep cleaned after each session and the costs we would charge would include very strong, robust cleaning and infection control measures.

"The important thing to stress is that this is only a proposal at the moment."

When asked if she anticipated criticism of the idea, Ms Rowsell said: "We have to accept we are a publicly funded and publicly accountable organisation.

"We would thoroughly discuss this idea with patient-user groups and the patient and public involvement forum if it became a reality."

Ms Rowsell said that if the plan was given the green light animals would be brought into the hospital via the nearest available entrance.

Dogs are already allowed in the hospital in the form of guide dogs and PAT (Pets As Therapy) dogs, which are brought in to cheer up patients, she said.

Ipswich Hospital is renowned for its advances in radiotherapy treatment.

In 2005 national cancer tsar Professor Mike Richards, National Director of Cancer Services in the NHS, opened a £1.8 million linear accelerator unit - one of only a handful in the world.

The machine is capable of delivering extremely targeted radiotherapy.

Copyright Press Association 2006.