NHS sell-out: Tories sign largest privatisation deal in history worth £780MILLION

[blacksunday]

Jeremy Hunt’s claims that the NHS is not for sale lay in tatters last night after he signed the largest privatisation deal in history.

The Health Secretary, who has repeatedly denied health services are being siphoned off to private firms under this Government, faced furious reactions as the £780million deal was revealed.

The sales to a total of 11 private firms, some with dubious records, are intended to help hospitals tackle the backlog of patients waiting for surgery and tests.

Heart, joint and a variety of operations will be carried out, as well as scans, X-rays and other diagnostic tests. Under the deal struck by the NHS Supply Chain, many services will be provided in mobile units, rather than hospitals.

The news was met by anger, not least because three of the 11 profit-driven firms have previously been slammed for providing poor quality of care.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nhs-sell-out-tories-sign-largest-5323402?fb_ref=Default#ICID=sharebar_facebook

Using the private sector to clear backlogs is something Labour introduced to the NHS.

Not a Tory policy at all.

Oh well that's all right then, Viking. Jeez, some people are so tribal they don't care what's actually happening as long as they can point fingers.

This privatisation was exactly what was predicted when the Health and Social Care Act was passed in 2012 (despite considerable opposition from the Lords, and skulduggery with late night reversal of amendments.) It's why the Act was passed.

The NHS as we know it was pushed off a high building in 2012. It just hasn't all hit the ground yet.

This revolution was pushed through during a time of supposed austerity, even though it's hugely expensive to enact, by a coalition government none of whom had taken this to the electorate.

When it dawns on people that they want to reverse it, we will be told it's too expensive to go back and the people involved all have jobs and shares in the new private health companies.

A 5 minute youtube video on how the NHS has been, and continues to be privatised. By the Green Party:

Saving the NHS for the Common Good.

Just to put this into perspective, this is £780M being spent to clear the backlog out of a total NHS budget of £95.6B. So this represents around 0.8% of the total NHS budget.

Personally, given that a sizeable chunk of the NHS budget inevitably goes to profit making companies (drugs, equipment, etc.) and given that GPs have long been in effect private contractors I can't get worked up about private companies being involved.

If it's not working, don't fix it eh?

Best thing that could happen is privatisation or a 2 tier service with compulsory insurance.

We cannot, without major changes, continue to provide free at point of service health care without culling pensioners or refusing healthcare to the obese, smokers, drinkers and drug users or the long term sick.

So I'm up for the major change, something has to be done.

Best thing for whom, Madamcastafiore?

That's a genuine question.

How does your insurance-based two-tier service provide better (or even the same) health care for the long term sick or for pensioners?

Or is your plan to get the long term sick and pensioners off the books - they get the bottom tier - and the better healthcare is provided to healthy young people?

Well, the title was 'finger-pointing' at the wrong party. Buying extra capacity of this kind for NHS from the private sector was established practice well before 2010 (let alone 2012).

But the important point is that this sort of deal has been around for a decade or so. This doesn't represent a new policy, or a change of direction for the NHS. Nor, as prh47 points out, a large part of the budget.

For everyone pausing. Two their being paid and unpaid. Those that can pay must and those that can't get it paid for them.

I firmly believe the current system is unworkable.

Worth a read, especially if you think the NHS is 'safe' with Ed Balls running government spending.

www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/kailash-chand/moment-of-honesty-is-required-new-labour-began-dismantling-of-our-nhs

I have said before how little time I have for salami-slicers, viz:

Step 1: "We're changing the principal, but not making big practical changes, so there's nothing for you to comment on."
Step 2: "We're changing all the practical stuff, but not changing the principal, so there's nothing for you to comment on."

Well thanks, but I'll comment on whichever bit I like.

In particular, there's a major difference between buying in products (unless you think the NHS should manufacture its own toilet paper) and buying in services, especially core-business services.

Those that can pay must and those that can't get it paid for them.

So, an income-based system?

Perhaps we could call it, oh, I dunno, "taxes"?

Like the German system where employers contribute too.

I worked in the NHS after working in the private sector and its like a creaking old dinosaur leaking cash from every pore.

In particular, there's a major difference between buying in products and buying in services

The NHS has long done both. As I've already pointed out, GPs are a bought in service. Most hospitals buy in a range of services.

Personally I don't really care whether my local hospital is owned and operated by the NHS or a private sector business provided its services remain free, it doesn't cost the taxpayer any more than it does today (subject, of course, to inflation, etc.) and the quality of service is at least as good as it is today. I wouldn't want to see it privatised just for the sake of it and certainly not if it resulted in a deterioration. But if letting a private company run it improved the service without increasing costs I would be in favour.

Yup
They will run the NHS down, they will create 'backlogs' and spin messages that NHS cannot cope.
They will make it ripe fur private companies to step in and make a profit out of the tax payer. And the service will be worse. And eventually will cost more. And we will all be paying.

Meanwhile...let's worry about Jeremy Clarkson, eh?

I had a lunch with a friend and some of her friends arrived later on. The force with which two of them expressed their ignorant, narrow minded selfish opinions (about something far simpler to understand than the NHS) digusts and appalls me. No, not every (ill informed) opinion is equally valid.

Just because you are clever or well educated or both doesn't entitle you to pronounce on every matter. Because there are things you don't know. What is so difficult to understand about that. Turkeys voting for Christmas.

So did they have to rush this through before the election to make sure their cronies got a finger in the pie?

blacksunday ….. is that the SAME blacksunday who accuses me of peddling party propaganda in stating the FACTS on the incompetence of 13-years of Labour? Good lord.

“The biggest NHS privatisation deal in history worthy £780 billion” hahahahahahahahaha.

How about the Labour NHS privatisation deals that nearly bankrupted the NHS Hospital Trusts and wasted other money on privatisation other services via Public Finance Initiative (PFI) debt?

www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9356942/Blair-defends-PFI-as-NHS-trusts-face-bankruptcy.html
www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8779598/Private-Finance-Initiative-where-did-all-go-wrong.html

“The total value of the NHS buildings built by Labour under the scheme is £11.4bn. But the bill, which will also include fees for maintenance, cleaning and portering, will come to more than £70bn on current projections and will not be paid off until 2049”*

“Across the public sector, taxpayers are committed to paying £229bn for hospitals, schools, roads and other projects with a capital value_ of £56bn.”*

And how about the deal that paid a private company donating to Labour (and allegedly involved in the Blair ‘cash of lordships’ scandal) getting £billions on NHS money for ‘stuff’ that never worked – as forgot to consult those using it at the beginning – so sheer taxpayer and end user incompetence?

'Disastrous' £11.4bn NHS IT programme to be abandoned

”A multi-billion pound IT project started by Labour to link all parts of the NHS is to be abandoned.”
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/8780566/Disastrous-11.4bn-NHS-IT-programme-to-be-abandoned.html

As currently under 6% of the NHS money pays outside contractors and just under 5% was contracted out by Labour, the sheer scale of this article’s dishonesty, nay mis information is beyond scandalous – especially as IF TRUE, with an NHS budget of £100 billion (increased by the coalition, that Labour refused to protect in 2010) - this “£780 million” is LESS than 1% of the annual NHS budget, and Labour in office has STILL committed to far more privatisation than the Conservatives.

Who cares, isitmebut?

As can be seen in the video I posted, privitisation and dismantling of the NHS started decades ago, much of it under New Labour.

Stop propagandising for the Tories, it's really tedious. This isn't just a platform for Tory HQ campaigning.

Compulsory insurance schemes are not a panacea. Have a look at this deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/Health%2Band%2BEnvironment/1.2054125 which tells you that in Belgium, Netherlands and Germany there are people who cannot afford to visit a doctor under these insurance schemes.

That's in the more socially equal countries in Europe. Imagine what would happen here, in one of if not the most unequal countries.

You can also look at this www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jun/30/healthcare-spending-world-country which shows that actually uk healthcare spending is lower per capita than any of those countries.

I had some experience of how the Belgian scheme operated too. Lots of individual companies competing to supply the identical policies, ridiculous levels of red tape every time you see a dr or visit healthcare anywhere. Ineffective, ludicrously inefficient, total waste of resources.

How many times do we have to have the truth in front of our eyes before we accept tbe reality that the public sector is always always always more effective and efficient at delivering essential infrastructure than the bloody private?

The public sector is always getting a bad deal from the (private sector) media in the uk. The truth is it's more efficient on the frontline than anywhere else in Europe - it has to be, because at the current levelsof funding it would fall over if it wasn't. And that of course is now happening anyway.

If you ask me, this is stage one of a plan to sell our nhs to the Americans under TTIP in exchange for nice ego-boosting global political positions for the boys, that involve big pay-outs for nothing but the occasional soundbite, a la Blair.

Time to start waving the pitchforks people. Should we even wait until May?

Like the German system where employers contribute too

You mean like employers' contributions to NI in the UK??

blacksunday ... re your "who cares" and "Stop propagandising for the Tories, it's really tedious. This isn't just a platform for Tory HQ campaigning."

WHO CARES?

Well if the subject of this thread (you began) is which party has the worse recent record on privatizing the NHS, surely YOU, unless you have your own political agenda?

The choice in May on who sets the majority of the policies (including the management of the NHS) is between two parties, and as one of the main problem in politics is that women don't vote as they think 'politicians lie to then' and/or 'they are all the same' - do you have a problem with those on Mumsnet knowing the FACTS - as Mr Miliband is so keen to debate them, without the use of misinformation?

b Isitmebut-

The subject of this thread is not which party has the worse record on privatizing the NHS.

The fact that you read it like that is indicative if your problem, as evidence on all other threads, that everything must be debated in terms of a campaign between Labour and the Tories.

I'm going to start ignoring you - like everybody else does - unless you can stop approaching every subject as a chance to score a political point for the Tories against Labour.

So what YOU want to do (as evidenced by all other threads) is critisize the Conservative led coalition, WITHOUT challenging dodgy facts you present like 'the largest act of privatization', with qualified facts of my own - for WHAT non political purpose???? lol