A LUXURIOUS new unit dedicated to private patients has been opened at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital(RBH) by Eddie Howe.

The AFC Bournemouth manager was joined at the ceremony by more than 100 guests, including leukaemia patient Dan Hall, who will be treated there.

The unit will provide extra income to support NHS care at the RBH and will be run by The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (RBCH) to develop its private patient services.

The Bournemouth Private Clinic’s (BPC) sole purpose is to generate extra income for the Trust that can be used to provide resources for NHS patients, with more than £3m already reinvested to date.

Business leaders, health insurers, GPs and medical consultants were among guests at the launch of the unit, which has four bedrooms, two consulting rooms and a treatment room.

Eddie Howe presented a plaque to manager Michelle Burden and said: "The new unit is very impressive and I’m sure BPC patients will feel confident in the treatments and facilities on offer there, especially as there are emergency services very close by for added peace of mind."

Dan Hall added: "Because all profits from the Bournemouth Private Clinic go back into care for NHS patients at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, it’s a real win-win situation.

"It makes sense for the NHS to benefit from private practice rather than seeing the money go elsewhere. The new unit looks amazing too - you could almost believe you were in a five star hotel rather than a hospital."

Michelle Burden, said: “Consultants working in the NHS have always had the option to work privately and many choose to do so. With our new facilities at BPC, we can now encourage consultants to run their private practices from our hospitals.

"This is far better for our Trust than consultants using external facilities to run their practices, as the NHS can’t benefit from that at all."

To find out more about BPC go to bournemouthprivateclinic.co.uk.