A NATIONAL Health Service hospital with debts of millions is to open its doors to cats and dogs for cancer treatments.

The scheme is being discussed at The Ipswich hospital in Suffolk, which has debts of £24.1m and whose financial troubles were highlighted in an investigation by The Sunday Times last year.

Under the proposal, the hospital will allow the use of its radiotherapy equipment to treat pets with various types of cancer.

The hospital is looking to form a partnership with a veterinary oncologist who would hold weekly clinics on a Saturday morning. Pet owners will have to pay a fee covering the cost of the oncologist and specialist staff who will work overtime.

Although the hospital refused to say how much pet owners would pay for each session, a spokeswoman said that The Ipswich Hospital NHS trust plans to earn about £50,000 a year from the venture.

Jan Rowsell, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said last night: “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.

“We will use very stringent infection control procedures. Everything will be covered in anti-allergy drapes and hygiene will be of the utmost importance.”

The pets will use the linear accelerator, which administers dosages of radiotherapy to patients. Such a procedure does not require the patient to be immobile, so pets will not have to be sedated before the treatment.

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