Nhs

[Pixxie7]

How many of you are surprised that the tories are offering some nhs services to the private company’s.

Not even a little bit.
It's more surprising that people might or could be surprised.

Word for word what AJGranny said.

What services?

Do you mean they're outsourcing some things or what exactly?

Children’s and some cancer, not sure of details received tweet.

Quite a lot of the NHS is contracted out already, and has been for s long time.
I really don't see what the problem is. It's still free at the point of use, which is the main thing.

Is this an issue for some reason? Do you not have confidence in the companies being used?

As said above. This has been happening for ages. Not new

Happened for years and years. Your gp surgery is not nhs owned, it's either owned by the partners or a company. There are good and bad but ultimately my surgery is well managed and invests in alot of extra services for patients. I've worked in the nhs for 15 years, nhs services can be a money black hole lacking innovation. All services need monitoring and cqc help to do this. The services will still be held accountable and the government will want the most for the money.

Fluffyjumper@. I know about GP surgeries but am just concerned about the future of a nhs reliant on private enterprise.

NHS needs a massive shakeup and restructuring. It is not suitable to fulfilling any requirements in its current state.
I hope a Two-tier system is introduced shortly
(and just to mitigate any unkind responses, I used to run an A&E in the capital, before got into the private sector, where we could deliver service which met with my standards)

Virgin care do some children's services here (they don't 'own' it, they are paid to provide the service), and it's excellent. So much better than the NHS run services we have used, they are efficient, communication is better, appointments are faster and they have saved money. The reason areas are outsourced is because the expertise of the companies who won them is invaluable in a poorly run and inefficient service like the NHS. Lots was outsourced during labour as well, including the PFIs which are ludicrous. I agree that in theory it is wrong, but until they really shake up the way that the NHS is run I think these companies are a good thing, hopefully thought it will all be run by government again.

We had a temporary contract with a private company for our day surgery dept. They came in, made massive changes that improved the service and patient care. All patients received that care on the nhs. I think the media massively misinforms people in this area. Private companies working with the nhs can be a good thing.

Lots of the nhs is already contracted out & that won’t be reversed. I’m less bothered by who is delivering whether that’s the NHS, the private sector or the third sector eg. Hospices than whether it’s a good service & remains free at the point of delivery.

A business that wants to make a profit won’t touch the really hard bits of the NHS like A&E

You should have asked this question when Blair was in power. It was he who first introduced the Private Finance Initiative to the NHS.

Not surprised at all.

I was surprised when it was first done, as that was under a Labour government. And once something like that happened, it's bound to occur again.

It's one of those awkward issues where when Govt X does it, it's necessary, proportionate and improving the patient experience, but when Govt be does it, they are nasty heartless dismantlers

My problem is them making profit from doing this. If the NHS ran the services it would be cutting out private companies profits.
Virgin health have contraception services in theNE and I could not get an appointment for weeks and weeks.
Changed go and was sorted in ten days.

Gp

am just concerned about the future of a nhs reliant on private enterprise

That's only natural, but you might want to look a bit further into it than relying on "had a tweet"

You may even discover that the private sector's been involved for years, and that it was Gordon Brown's PFIs which have proved to be one of the most expensive initiatives of all

I've generally had better service from the contracted out services - presumably because they have an incentive (profit) to run things efficiently.

Last experience with non contracted out - had minor procedure, not done properly, had to go back.
Scan from first time not available at second appointment, lump removed on third visit.
Get sent further appointment to remove lump; 20+ minutes on the phone explaining that they have already removed lump "why don't you come in anyway" - duur!
No idea if they cancelled fourth appointment or not - can't believe how inefficient they are.
Also, lots of conflicting advice and appointments on aftercare of wound.

It's literally the exact opposite of what is being suggested. The NHS can bid for extra capacity from private services. The NHS is not selling off its services, it's buying capacity from private services.

Can see why people ate up that dossier that Corbyn produced, and people wonder why political discussion is going down hill.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/private-firms-invited-run-nhs-21178712

So to provide a service company A bids £5 million and the NHS trust bids £7 million, who are the commissioners likely to go for? Regardless of a private company making profit the NHS has huge overheads which get taken into account when preparing bids for contracts. Like previous posters have said, all that matters is that services remains free at point of use.

The idea that the NHS could buy in services goes back to 1991 when the Conservatives Introduced "GP fundholding". In 1997 Labour abolished this but kept the idea of a purchase-provider split, with the replacement purchaser being primary care groups and later PCTs. I think PCTs have now been replaced by CCGs.

But the basic idea that services will be bought in by someone has been in operation since 1991.

(I'm no expert, this is just what I've discovered by five minutes googling.)

This is nothing new.. What are you worried about exactly?