HUNDREDS of NHS patients will be treated at a new, privately-run North Yorkshire treatment centre from March next year.

The Government has announced the centre will be run by Capio Healthcare

UK, which has 21 private acute hospitals in the UK.

It will perform a mixture of general surgery, trauma and orthopaedics surgery to help cut waiting lists at NHS hospitals.

Around half of the operations will be over and above those which would have been carried out on the NHS.

Jeremy Clough, Selby and York Primary Care Trust Chief Executive, said: "We see this an excellent opportunity to work jointly with colleagues in the NHS and the independent sector to provide the additional capacity required to meet the needs of our patients - particular in the area of orthopaedics.

"The extra capacity will help us to make further progress in reducing the time patients wait for hospital treatment and enable us to offer patients greater choice in where they receive their surgery."

The government's policy of using private and independent firms to treat NHS patients has come under fire in recent months.

Critics were concerned that ministers were paying over the odds for operations that could be provided more cheaply by the NHS.

Figures published last October suggested that operations carried out by the private sector were as much as 40 per cent more expensive than those done on the NHS.

But Health Minister John Hutton insisted the centre would provide good value for money.

He said: "I am determined that no NHS patient should wait in pain where we can negotiate good value agreements with the independent sector.

"This agreement with Capio will provide the operations well below the current rates being charged in the private sector."

At its existing private hospitals, Capio offers operations ranging from tummy tucks and tattoo removal to IVF treatment, chemotherapy and cardiac investigations.

Updated: 16:29 Thursday, May 13, 2004