ELLAND'S BUPA Hospital has been sold as part of an £85m deal.

The hospital, on Elland Lane, is one of nine of BUPA's hospitals sold to Legal and General Ventures.

The hospitals will form the basis of a new group called Classic Hospitals Group, which becomes the UK's fifth largest group of private hospitals.

The other eight hospitals are in Blackpool (Fylde Coast), Farnham (Clare Park), Hull, Hythe (St Saviours), Leeds (Methley Park), Macclesfield (Regency), Reading (Dunedin) and Wrexham (Yale).

The proposal to sell the hospitals was announced last June, following a review of the BUPA Hospitals portfolio.

BUPA initially identified 10 of its smaller hospitals to be sold. The 10th, Hastings, which is attached to the Conquest NHS Hospital, will now not be part of the deal and will continue to operate as part of the BHL network.

Clare Hollingsworth, managing director of BUPA Hospitals, said: "BUPA Hospitals is actively developing new customer propositions based on increased levels of standardisation and economies of scale.

"This approach is better suited to our larger hospitals. The sale will enable the nine smaller hospitals to continue to deliver quality health care to meet the needs of the local community."

BUPA Hospitals now operates 25 hospitals around the country.

Last year the company treated more than 700,000 patients.

Michael Mowlem, of LGV, said: "We are delighted to be backing Classic Hospitals as a new participant in the private hospital sector. This is a first- class group of hospitals headed by a dynamic and experienced management team.

"The private healthcare sector is continuing to demonstrate strong levels of growth and we believe this business has the right credentials to make a significant impact."

BUPA was set up in 1947. It is now a broad-based health and care organisation with a growing international presence.

It has 7.8m customers in 180 countries and 40,000 employees.

Its main interests are health insurance, hospitals, care services for older people and the young disabled, health assessments, workplace health and childcare services.