A private hospital has thrown its aspirations of breaking even next year out the window as it continued to make significant losses despite growing patient numbers.

KIMS Hospital in Maidstone suffered pre-tax losses of £15.9 million in the year to April, up 4%, despite increasing revenues by 86% to £16.4 million, according to its unpublished latest accounts, seen by Kent Business.

The institution, which opened two years ago, did not rule out seeking further funding to help it grow, even though a restructure in November 2014 injected £20 million.

However, the health of the business improved, with underlying losses before interest, taxes and other charges (EBITDAR) improving by 23% to £7.2 million.

Chief executive Simon James said the hospital is still in a “growth and investment phase” and is working on a five to seven year timeline towards profitability.

He put the sustained losses down to “indirect costs” and new accounting standards.

At present, he said revenues “continue on an upward trajectory” but did not commit to his aspirations last year, when he said the site would be breaking even and generating income of £24-26m in the 12 months to April 2017.

He said: “Revenues had good growth and if you look at EBITDAR, that indicates an operational improvement and losses have dropped by £2.2 million.

“The important number is the improvement on the EBITDAR. That indicates we are growing. Our investors are very pleased with the performance and will continue to invest.”

The hospital, based on Kent Medical Campus near Junction 7 of the M20, increased overall patient numbers by 71% in the year to April, treating 2,700 private cases, up 69%, and 2,100 NHS cases, up 75%.

"Our investors are very pleased with the performance and will continue to invest...” - Simon James, KIMS Hospital

Mr James said increasing treatments is key to reaching profitability.

He said: “We have grown revenue and with revenue growth there is the ability to unlock economies of scale.

“The biggest opportunity for cost savings is around efficiencies and supplies costs.

“We are a single hospital and if you are part of a big group you have more purchasing power with the big suppliers of medical consumables.

“Our purchasing power improves as we grow. We will be the biggest independent hospital in Kent and that will give us the ability to negotiate more effectively with the major suppliers.”

He added: “We never put patient care behind commercial gain. We always put patient care first and second is how to make it commercial.”

KIMS Hospital, which has a rent holiday until April 2019, has increased staff numbers by nearly two thirds since April 2015, employing 304 people and working with about 250 consultants.

Demand has come partly from the NHS e-Referral system, where patients can book their treatments at the Maidstone site, which launched in September last year and is described as “a very important part of the strategy”.

The hospital used an average of 22.5% of beds, up from 12% the previous year, while operating theatres worked at 36% of capacity, compared to 20% the previous year.

Mr James said: “Between now and the end of April I’m confident we will probably have one month where we should hit break even.

“Are we in a sustainable position on break even? No. That will come between now and the five to seven year plan.

“One of our suppliers that has links at a lot of hospitals globally reported back to us that we are 12 to 18 months ahead of the curve. I’m confident we will deliver within that timeframe.”