The move, which will result in at least 6,000 extra NHS patients a year being treated, is expected to see a major expansion in the use of the existing small independent sector north of the border.

There will also be new diagnosis and treatment centres created by private health providers, some on existing NHS hospital sites. Mobile flexible scanning units, again provided by the private sector, will also be used to speed up diagnosis and treatment for thousands of patients facing long delays.

The package announced yesterday by Andy Kerr, the Scottish Executive Health Minister, amounts to an admission that only increased use of private care can help to reduce NHS waiting in Scotland. It follows the successful lead of the Department of Health in England, where waiting lists have tumbled while those north of the border have continued to rise.

The new involvement of the private sector was part of an investment package announced by Mr Kerr yesterday which he described as the “most comprehensive ever seen in the Scottish NHS to improve treatment for patients”.

Precise financial details of the contracts with six companies will not be known until negotiations are complete, probably early next year.

The strategy is guaranteed to infuriate health unions, who have said that Mr Kerr’s promised “veto” on private sector providers poaching NHS staff will be impossible to fulfil.

The minister also promised new investment in the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank to provide an additional 10,000 procedures a year, taking the total to 26,000 a year, with private companies taking up vacant wards in the hospital on lease. The hospital was brought into the NHS only two years ago from the private sector at a cost of £37 million.

Mr Kerr also announced two new targets for Scottish patients, which will mean that by the end of 2007 no patient will wait more than 18 weeks from GP referral to an outpatient appointment. For inpatient and day cases, no one will wait more than 18 weeks from diagnosis to treatment. Together, the Executive hopes, these new targets will benefit an estimated 270,000 patients a year.

New targets for the end of 2007 will mean that no patient will wait longer than 18 weeks for cataract surgery. There will be a new 16-week target for cardiac patients from GP referral to cardiac intervention and a four-hour target from arrival to discharge in accident and emergency units. Patients with hip fractures are to be given a 24-hour target for surgery.

There will also be an additional £125 million for NHS equipment over the next three years and an increase of up to £12 million for new facilities to treat coronary heart disease.

The overall thrust of the measures is aimed at limiting the political damage caused to the Executive of the failure since 1999 to solve the NHS waiting problem. Ministers hope that the private sector mobile scanning and diagnostic units in particular will play a key role in treating thousands of patients who would otherwise have no alternative but to join the NHS queue. By 2008, the Scottish NHS budget will be around £10 billion a year and with costs per head running at 20 per cent higher than in England, Executive ministers have to see a political return on the investment.

Mr Kerr told MSPs: “This is a powerful combination which will deliver for patients the additional capacity we need. In any new contracts with the independent sector we will ensure that there are strict conditions to ensure the NHS is not disadvantaged.”

Shona Robison, the Scottish National Party’s Shadow Minister for Health, attacked the proposals for greater private sector involvement, describing them as damaging to the NHS and a “desperate” attempt by the Health Minister to appear to be doing something different.”

David Davidson, the Scottish Tory health spokesman, said the issue was wider than waiting times and welcomed the Executive’s agreement to follow the Conservative policy of greater collaboration with the independent sector.

The British Medical Association in Scotland said it was concerned about the implications of increased involvement of the private sector in treating NHS patients but would need to look further at the details of Mr Kerr’s plans.

• MSPs voted last night to back the Executive’s pledge to cut waiting times through greater use of the private sector.

  An SNP amendment expressing concern that any expansion of the private sector in Scotland can only be achieved at the expense of the NHS was voted out by 81 votes to 39 with one abstention.

  A Tory move calling for more collaboration with the independent and voluntary health sectors was voted down by 103 votes to 17 with two abstentions and an amendment by the Scottish Socialists calling private health care “a parasitic drain on NHS assets” fell.

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