ROCKER Rod Stewart yesterday visited the NHS hospital where he paid for patients’ scans.
The 78-year-old — worth about £250million — made the offer on a Sky News phone-in last month.
News UK Newspaper LtdRod Stewart visits the NHS hospital where he paid for patients’ scans – pictured here with Omarie Ryan, 36[/caption]
He arrived at Princess Alexandra Hospital near his home in Harlow, Essex, in a Rolls-Royce, before signing autographs and joking: “Let’s all have a sing-song.”
Explaining his offer, he said: “I’d just come from a scan in a private clinic in London. I walked in and said, ‘I’m terribly sorry, I’m half hour late’.
“They said, ‘Don’t worry, there’s hardly anybody in’. There were eight people with hardly anything to do. I thought it was a terrible injustice, so here we are.”
The hospital’s Stephanie Lawton said Sir Rod had paid for a day of scans which would reduce its waiting list by about ten per cent — or 20 patients.
At a mobile MRI unit, the singer met Omarie Ryan, 36, who had a left knee scan. Sir Rod said: “So this is my first customer! All good? You stay healthy.” Mr Ryan said: “It was a dream come true.”
Sir Rod said he would like to pay for scans elsewhere, too, and hoped others would follow his lead.
He added: “I want to prove I’m not all mouth and trousers and that’s why I’m here.
“There must be enough money in the coffers to pay up for these nurses. They work so hard, salt of the earth.”