CMA compliance

The services provided at Spire Cheshire Hospital to referring clinicians and the amounts charged by Spire for those services are set out below:

• Use of consulting rooms £24 per hour
• Medical secretarial services: £20.47 per hour plus VAT

The following “low-value” services are also provided to referring clinicians with practising privileges at this hospital:

• General services to ensure clinical safety (eg in-house training, chaperones)
• Operational services such as patient bookings/admissions (including online booking and payment for consultations), access to a virtual consultation solution, administrative services and billing, and insurance/indemnity cover in respect of NHS patients
• General marketing support, including production of consultant directories, promotional activities, web profiles etc
• Basic workplace amenities such as teas/coffees/refreshments, subsidised meals, car parking, stationery

Spire group Medical Advisory Committee (MAC) Chairs conferences are held twice a year, focusing on clinical safety and governance issues. MAC Chairs from all of Spire’s hospitals are invited to attend, with their partners, and are joined by members of Spire’s senior management.

• In 2017, the conferences were held in Berlin and Aylesbury and the total cost of the events was approximately £85,000 and £25,000 respectively.
• In 2018, a conference was held in Berlin and the total cost of the event was approximately £88,000.
• In 2019, the conferences were held in Lisbon and Aylesbury and the total cost of the events was approximately £95,000 and £28,400. MAC Chairs were also invited to attend the Spire Healthcare Senior Management Conference in Birmingham in June 2019 (8 MAC Chairs attended at a cost of £845 per head).
• No conferences were held in 2020.
• In 2021, conferences were held virtually via Zoom as well as face to face in Aylesbury. The total cost of the events in 2021 was approximately £2,120 and £19,300 respectively. 
• In 2022, the conferences were held in May at Spire’s head office in London and in November at Oulton Hall, Leeds. The total cost of the events in 2022 were approximately £6,463 and £20,338 respectively.
• In 2023, the conferences were held in June at M Restaurant in London and in November at The Midland Hotel, Manchester. The total cost of the events in 2023 were approximately £2,931 and £20,389 respectively.

In 2019, Spire Healthcare held a series of 5 dinners with 70 consultants from across 5 Spire hospitals for the purpose of meeting various members of the Spire Executive team and listening to and engaging with consultants. The cost of the dinners ranged from £60 to £80 per head. No dinners were held in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Corporate hospitality events

Corporate hospitality events held by the hospital at no charge to referring clinicians are set out below, together with the cost of providing such events:

No corporate hospitality or events took place in 2022 to 2023.

In 2024, the Hospital Annual General Meeting was held in Manchester. The total cost of the event was £9,555.12. (27 people attended at a cost of £351 per head).

Spire Cheshire Hospital's Medical Advisory Committee Meeting took place off site in Stretton in May at a total cost of £378.10 with 13 attendees.

Private hospital operators are required to disclose details of referring clinicians practising at their facilities, who have a share or financial interest in those facilities or any equipment used there. Some clinicians may own shares in Spire Healthcare Group plc, which were acquired either at the admission price or through trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. Where a referring clinician has an individual web page profile on this hospital website, relevant shares and/or financial interests are disclosed there. For referring clinicians who do not have an individual profile, their shares and/or financial interests are shown below:

• Dr V Gund holds less than 0.1% of the shares in Spire Healthcare Group plc
• Dr N Greenwood holds less than 0.1% of the shares in Spire Healthcare Group plc

Private hospital operators are required to disclose details of certain paid services provided by referring clinicians to private hospitals operators in addition to exercising practising privileges at that hospital. This information can be found on the referring clinician’s individual web page profile on this hospital website.

• Mr Mark Tighe is Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee at Spire Cheshire Hospital. Their role is to provide senior professional advice to the Hospital Director and Director of Clinical Services in order to support effective medical governance and oversight. They are paid £14,000 per annum for this role and are also entitled to receive the following fees for the provision of additional ad hoc services: (i) £750 for chairing a Professional Review Committee; (ii) £200 per hour for attendance at regulatory or other national body meeting (capped at £500); (iii) £500 for each annual medical appraisal undertaken for a doctor designating to Spire for the purposes of revalidation; (iv) £1,000 per annum for undertaking the role of governance lead in addition to MAC Chair; and (v) £200 per hour for the preparation of an independent report (up to a maximum of £500 per report unless otherwise agreed due to complexity) upon request by the Medical Director or Chief Medical Officer.
• Dr A Morrison has been appointed as a pre-operative lead anaesthetist to run and improve pre-operative assessment clinics at the hospital. Duties include to support the Pre-Operative assessment department in the provision of guidance on fitness to proceed to surgery in accordance with the elective surgical admission criteria and Dr Morrison is paid £200 per hour for face to face appointments and £150 per hour for any other assessments.
• Dr P Scott has been appointed as a pre-operative lead anaesthetist to run pre-operative assessment clinics at the hospital. Duties include to support the Pre-operative department in the provision of guidance on fitness to proceed to surgery in accordance with the elective surgical admission criteria. Dr Scott is paid £200 per hour for face to face appointments and £150 per hour for any other assessments.