The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has given staff access to a state-of-the-art CT scanner that it gifted to the National Health Service (NHS) and a medical research centre 25% of the time.
The bank's arrangement with the Queens Medical Research Institute (QMRI) and NHS Lothian to buy the 320-multi-detector scanner and contribute to its operating costs has raised fears of a two-tier health system. When the facility is not being used by RBS, the QMRI and NHS Lothian will have shared access to the scanner, which examines the heart and coronary arteries within one heartbeat.
Charles Swainson, NHS Lothian medical director, said that the scanner's extra capacity will free up time for other patients to benefit from existing diagnostic facilities.
Alan Watt, group head of brand communications at RBS, said: "RBS has one of the largest benefits choice programmes in Europe and we know that health and wellbeing is one of the benefits that our staff value most. We already offer a range of medical benefits such as medical checks and critical illness cover and this will complement our existing lifestyle choices and take our provision of staff benefits to a new level."