And the department has said that ‘all options’ remain open for the long term plan of how patients will be accommodated in future.
In January, Health announced that as part of a one-year patient accommodation trial it had leased five two-bedroom apartments in the city’s Ocean Village complex.
Previously patients had been put up at the Jury’s Inn hotel but many had complained about a lack of privacy and home comforts.
However, after patients said they did not want to share an apartment with another patient, the department has, as of this month, taken on a number of one-bedroom units in the complex.
A Health spokesman said: ‘The change in policy has been brought about as a result of feedback from patients who indicated to us that they were not supportive of the initial concept of sharing two-bedroom apartments. ‘Whilst we have retained the two-bedroom units, which are a useful option for managing families, we have also secured access to some one-bedroom units within the same block to enable us to provide accommodation to patients on a single-occupancy basis for the remainder of the trial.
‘This brings a slight cost increase, but this will be managed within existing budgets associated with off-Island care.’
According to a Freedom of Information request, with 100 per cent capacity, it costs the Health Department £718 a week to put up two adults in one of its two-bedroom apartments at Ocean Village.
That equates to £37,336 a year per apartment, or £186,680 for all five apartments.
As well as rent, the bill includes utilities, council tax, airport pick-ups, cleaning and overheads for maintenance and running the service, such as bookings, administration, and people in Southampton who manage day-to-day issues for patients.
The Jury’s Inn bill for 2016 was £170,000, down from £201,000 in 2015 and £314,000 in 2014. The department said it would currently cost £1,092 to put up two adults in the hotel for a week in separate rooms.
Last year about 170 patients were referred to Southampton General, with the majority needing to spend between four and six weeks away from the Island to receive radiotherapy treatment for cancer.
Responding to a separate FOI on what happens following the pilot, the department said all patients who stay in the apartments are asked for their feedback, which will be used to help assess its success.
It added: ‘No decisions have been taken in respect of our longer term planning for patient accommodation in the UK.
‘All options remain open to the Health and Social Services Department and any decision will be informed by patient feedback which we continue to request and receive.’
