Private A&E treatment for £29

Parients will be able to jump the queues at Accident & Emergency by paying to see a doctor in London's first purpose-built private casualty department.

For a flat fee of just £29, patients at the £5 million Casualty Plus unit in Brentford will get to see an A&E specialist immediately.

The company behind the unit, due to open in October, believes there will be more than enough people willing to pay to avoid the lengthy waits in NHS A&E departments.

Syed Jaffrey, chief executive of Casualty Plus, said: "For life- threatening injuries patients will still go to the NHS where they will get excellent attention.

"But 80 per cent of those who go to A&Es don't have lifethreatening injuries and they have to wait while the really serious cases are treated. A broken arm may be a minor injury to an A&E unit, but it isn't minor to the patient."

Mr Jaffrey, 42, who has worked as a management consultant with KPMG, funded the venture with private cash.

Local NHS organisations welcomed the initiative.

Dharmenra Tripathi, a Hounslow GP, described the unit as a "great support" for the over-stretched NHS set-up in West London. "I have discussed this idea with a number of GPs locally and they are most enthusiastic."