STRONGER NHS FOCUS AFTER PRIORY BUYOUT

The Priory chain of private psychiatric clinics looks likely to provide
more services for NHS patients after a group of its directors paid AUKP288m
for the company famous for treating celebrities with drug and alcohol problems.

The deal was led by Dr Chai Patel, a government adviser and strong advocate
of greater co-operation between the health service and the private sector.
Yesterday he made clear the company wanted to develop further long-term
partnerships with the NHS.

"Although the Priory is known in the press for the celebrity side of the
story, about half the work we do is with NHS-supported patients," he said.

The company is best known for its 90-bed Gothic mansion in Roehampton,
south-west London, which is a refuge for many troubled celebrities. Charges
for in-patient treatment can be up to AUKP500 a night, which means that
private clients, attempting to overcome drug or alcohol dependency, could
easily run up bills of AUKP20,000 for a six-week stay.

The group has 20 clinics in all, offering treatment for drug and alcohol
addiction, eating disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia
and neurological conditions, and for children with learning or behavioural
problems.

The health service has little provision for the treatment of these
problems, so an increasing number of patients are being referred by doctors
or social services to commercial operators. The Government's national
director for mental health, Professor Louis Appleby, has said private
clinics should to supplement NHS services for patients with mental health
problems.

Treatment for heroin and cocaine addicts has gained a higher profile in
recent weeks after MPs from the Home Affairs Select Committee criticised
the "woefully inadequate" services for up to 250,000 addicts. The National
Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, a health authority set up in 2001 to
provide "more, better and fairer" treatment, is also reviewing national
provision.

Dr Patel qualified as a doctor in 1979 and spent four years as an
investment banker before founding a nursing home company in 1988. Outside
business, he has advised the Government on the future of the health service
and called for it to enter into long-term contracts with commercial
providers for a range of services a " an idea that has since been taken up
by Alan Milburn, the Secretary of State for Health.

In the deal, to be finalised next month, Priory Healthcare is being
acquired from Westminster Healthcare.