Spire Healthcare

British private healthcare company

Spire Healthcare Group plc

Company type| Public

Traded as

* LSE: SPI
* FTSE 250 component

Industry| Healthcare
Founded| 2007; 18 years ago (2007)
Headquarters| London, United Kingdom

Key people

| Garry Watts (chairman)
Justin Ash (CEO)
Revenue|  £1,511.2 million (2024)[1]

Operating income

|  £149.4 million (2024)[1]

Net income

|  £26.0 million (2024)[1]
Website| www.spirehealthcare.com
Footnotes / references
[2]

Spire Healthcare Group plc is the second-largest provider of private healthcare in the United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

## History

[edit]

Spire Healthcare was formed from the sale of Bupa Hospitals to Cinven in 2007,[3] followed by the purchase of Classic Hospitals and Thames Valley Hospital in 2008.[4] It was the subject of an initial public offering in July 2014.[5]

## Facilities

[edit]

Spire Healthcare operates a network of 38 private hospitals and ten clinics across the UK,[4] as well as the London Fertility Centre.[6]

In December 2022, it was announced Spire had acquired The Doctors Clinic Group, an occupational health services provider with over 700 corporate clients and operating 22 private GP clinics in the UK.[7]

## Ian Paterson

[edit]

"Ian Paterson" redirects here. For similarly named people, see Ian Patterson (disambiguation).

Spire Murrayfield Hospital, Wirral

Ian Paterson, a breast surgeon who worked at Bupa hospitals in Solihull and Sutton Coldfield, latterly run by Spire Healthcare,[8] was convicted of 17 counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and three counts of unlawful wounding in respect of 10 patients.[9] Hundreds of patients who had been treated privately at Spire clinics pursued civil action against him and against the company. According to Thompsons Solicitors, Spire had allowed him to operate well after 2012, when he had been suspended by the General Medical Council.[10] Spire's statement was "What Mr Paterson did in our hospitals, in other private hospitals, and in the NHS absolutely should not have happened, and today justice has been done."[11] Paterson was initially jailed for 15 years; the Court of Appeal later increased his sentence to 20 years,[12] and £37 million was allocated for compensation.[13]

An Independent Inquiry into the Issues raised by Paterson chaired by Graham James, a former Bishop of Norwich, was set up, and reported on 4 February 2020.[14]

Spire initiated litigation in August 2017 against Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust claiming the trust's failure to warn it of concerns about Paterson's conduct was negligent and that the company relied on the NHS, as the primary employer, to tell it whether doctors were competent or whether there were patient safety concerns.[15]

A Patient Services Support Line was set up by University Hospitals Birmingham for patients who had been treated by Paterson; Spire Healthcare also set up a dedicated phone line.[16]

In February 2023 a further 1,500 Spire patients who had possibly received negligent treatment from Paterson were recalled by health officials after an old IT database was discovered.[17][18]

## Spire and the NHS

[edit]

Spire Liverpool Hospital

In 2021, it generated about 30% of its revenues from contracts with the NHS.[19]

The company alleged in 2013 that a block contract agreed between Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Clinical Commissioning Groups in Blackpool, and Fylde and Wyre offered a "clear incentive" for GPs to refer patients to the foundation trust and that this was anticompetitive behaviour. The contract provided the trust with a guaranteed income regardless of the number of patients that chose to use its services. Monitor conducted an investigation and decided that there was no evidence to support the claim, though they did conclude that Blackpool CCG's plans did not "go far enough" to ensure patients would be offered choice, or that the right to choice would be "publicised and promoted".[20]

Its NHS business grew from £262 million in 2015 to £293 million in 2016. 20% is directly commissioned by NHS trusts and 80% comes from patients using the NHS e-Referral Service. Income from medical insurers reduced 1.3% to £429 million. Direct payments by patients increased 9% to £170 million.[21] In 2017 turnover increased 0.6% to £932 million, but NHS-funded income fell 1.9% to £287.8 million.[22] The company's pre-tax profit in 2018 fell by 64% because of lower NHS income and higher costs.[23] The company reported record revenue of £1.1 billion for 2021, but it made a financial loss of £9 million after tax, and was £225 million in debt. Increased self-pay treatment helped boost the Group's revenue by 12.8%.[24] NHS income was £314.5 million in 2021, up from £285.7 million in 2019, but a smaller proportion of the total due to strong growth in the self-pay market.[25]

It was accused by the Royal College of Anaesthetists of being "extremely uncooperative" in facilitating the training of young clinicians during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.[26]

Spire runs a successful nursing apprenticeship programme in partnership with the University of Sunderland and is beginning to be involved in medical training.[27]

## BBC Panorama investigation

[edit]

Spire was the subject of a critical BBC Panorama investigation in April 2024, which raised safety concerns around NHS patients being treated in its hospitals.[28] Panorama showed an increasing number of NHS patients were undergoing surgery in Spire hospitals where no intensive care facilities were present. Some medical staff were under contract to work 168 hours a week, over three times higher than the NHS's recommended limit.[29]

## Awards

[edit]

In 2008 Spire Healthcare won the Independent Healthcare Award for Best Healthcare Outcomes and followed this in 2009 with the Nursing Practice award for their approach to infection prevention and control. In 2010, Spire won the Nursing Practice award for the second year in succession, together with the award for Excellence in Risk Management. Spire won the Innovation Award in 2011, before going on to win the Medical Practice award in 2012.[30]

## See also

[edit]

* Private medicine in the United Kingdom

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Annual Results 2024" (PDF). Spire Healthcare. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
2. ^ "Spire Healthcare Group PLC overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". Retrieved 27 July 2022.
3. ^ "Private healthcare providers: BMI Healthcare, Cinven/Spire Healthcare and Circle Health". The Guardian. 2 February 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
4. ^ a b "About Spire Healthcare". Spire Healthcare. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
5. ^ "Spire Healthcare to price UK float at 210 pence a share". 17 July 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.[dead link]
6. ^ "London Fertility Centre". Spire Healthcare. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
7. ^ "Spire Healthcare announces acquisition of The Doctors Clinic Group". Hospital Management. 2022-12-19. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
8. ^ "Evil surgeon Ian Paterson built property fortune by 'playing God' with patients". Birmingham Mail. 28 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
9. ^ "Breast Surgeon Found Guilty of 'Wounding With Intent'". Medscape.
10. ^ "Hundreds seeking compensation over ops by convicted breast surgeon". Belfast Telegraph. 29 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
11. ^ "Breast surgeon Ian Paterson case: 'Hundreds' of other victims". BBC. 29 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
12. ^ "Ian Paterson: Disgraced breast surgeon has sentence increased". August 3, 2017 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
13. ^ "Ian Paterson: Victims of disgraced surgeon get £37m". BBC News. 13 September 2017.
14. ^ James, Graham. Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Issues raised by Paterson (PDF). London: Department of Health & Social Care. ISBN 978-1-5286-1728-4. OCLC 1144775071. HC 31 2020-21.
15. ^ Lintern, Shaun (9 August 2017). "Private hospital firm takes NHS to court over rogue surgeon". Health Service Journal.
16. ^ "Information for past patients of Ian Paterson". University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. 24 February 2020.
17. ^ Gregory, Andrew (1 February 2023). "1,500 more patients of jailed breast surgeon Ian Paterson recalled". The Guardian.
18. ^ "Patients Before Profits: Justice for Victims of Ian Paterson". Thompsons Solicitors. February 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
19. ^ "UK hospital group Spire accepts new £1.4bn offer from rival Ramsay". Financial Times. 5 July 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
20. ^ "Regulator rejects private hospital's complaint against CCGs". Health Service Journal. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
21. ^ "Private hospital firm reports 13pc rise in NHS revenue". Health Service Journal. 2 March 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
22. ^ "NHS revenues fall at private hospital firms". Health Service Journal. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
23. ^ "Hospital operator Spire Healthcare's full-year profit falls". Reuters. 28 February 2019. Archived from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
24. ^ "Spire Healthcare reports its results for the year ended 31 December 2021" (PDF). Spire Healthcare. 3 March 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
25. ^ "Private provider's NHS revenue up 10pc since before pandemic". Health Service Journal. 3 March 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
26. ^ "Royal College boss accuses major private provider of being 'extremely uncooperative' over training". Health Service Journal. 3 March 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
27. ^ "Private provider says its 'robust nursing pipeline' can benefit NHS". Health Service Journal. 4 August 2022. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
28. ^ "Paying More for Less: Councils in Crisis". Panorama. 18 April 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
29. ^ "Spire Healthcare: Death of NHS-funded private patient raises safety concerns". BBC News. 8 April 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
30. ^ "Awards". Spire Healthcare. Retrieved 8 September 2014.

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