A coroner has warned that a private hospital is relying on NHS ambulances to transport patients despite “being fully aware” of the pressures on the ambulance service and resulting delays. The warning … Read more
Emergency care
An analysis of contract awards published from April 2018 to end of March 2019 found that 74% were awarded to non-NHS organisations, which includes private companies, charities and not-for-profit organisations. … Read more
Halton CCG has abandoned a procurement process for contracts worth £25m following the threat of legal action by local NHS organisations. The CCG had chosen as its preferred bidder to … Read more
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is calling on independent ambulance services, commissioners and the wider system to do more to make sure patients are safe, following concerns identified during its … Read more
Urgent care covers the NHS 111 services, walk-in centres and out-of-hours (OOH) GP services. There have been a number of failures with contracts awarded to private providers. Most recently, the … Read more
One of the most serious affects of outsourcing in the NHS that has been observed is a decline in the quality and safety of care. Quality and safety are linked … Read more
The collapse of multiple contracts held by Allied Healthcare and its subsidiaries has led to four clinical commissioning groups appointing new organisations to run GP out of hours services. In … Read more
Thousands of patients could be left without GP out of hours services after a cash-strapped private provider said it would cease operations by the end of the month. Primecare, a … Read more
A trust reduced its “core bed base” by nearly 40 in the run up to last winter, when its emergency department endured severe problems and intervention by inspectors, it has … Read more
A company operating one of the first integrated NHS 111 and GP out of hours services is to hand back the contract to the NHS. Primecare was placed in special … Read more
There was a “gap” in commissioners’ assurance process for an urgent care contract with Care UK and the provider’s staffing model was flawed, a review has found. The report by Verita, published … Read more
An out of hours provider has been forced to end provision of services across the East Midlands after it announced it intends to file for administration. Central Nottinghamshire Clinical Services … Read more
NHS 111 and GP out of hours services in east Kent are to be run by one organisation – but there are already fears about the transition to the new … Read more
NHS England has paid £165,000 for a contract that has seen a private provider carry out just one out-of-area GP patient home visit and 18 phone consultations since last July. … Read more
A leaked report has said that callers to out-of-hours GP services run by Integrated Care 24 (IC24) faced waits of more than 12 hours and this posed a “significant risk … Read more
Private NHS contractor ‘boots out patients before finishing treatment to meet targets’ (Mirror: 21 July 2015) Private providers of out-of-hours GP services deliver poorer care than NHS, research finds (The Independent: 30 … Read more
