Richard Branson’s Virgin Care won a record £1bn of NHS contracts last year, as £3.1bn of health services were privatised despite a government pledge to reduce the proportion of care … Read more
A deal has been agreed to stave off the collapse of Four Seasons Health Care, which looks after 17,000 elderly and vulnerable people, after the company’s largest creditor agreed to … Read more
A County Hall decision to award a £104m healthcare contract to the private sector instead of the NHS has sparked a storm of protest in Lancashire. Richard Branson’s Virgin Care … Read more
London hospital trusts have been forced to bring patient transport services in house or re-tender them as incumbent firms exit the market. Barts Health Trust in east London has confirmed … Read more
The government will launch an independent national inquiry into the actions of the rogue surgeon Ian Paterson, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail in August after carrying out … Read more
The private healthcare company, Care UK, has sent letters to hundreds of GPs setting out a price list of operations they could offer their patients to beat NHS delays and … Read more
The NHS has had contracts with private hospitals to carry out elective surgery for many years and patients were able to choose a private hospital under the choose-and-book system. Successive … Read more
Since 2012 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and Trusts have sought to outsource non-emergency transport for the NHS. Emergency work has largely remained the remit of the ambulance trusts across the … Read more
People with drug and alcohol addiction are being put at risk of harm at many independent residential rehabilitation units, a new report has warned. The Care Quality Commission published the report today … Read more
A trust faces a £48m repair bill to make one of its hospitals safe because of loopholes in the drafting of its private finance initiative contract, Department of Health documents … Read more
A legal dispute between Virgin Care and six Surrey clinical commissioning groups has been resolved – with an apparent payment by the NHS to the company. The litigation – over … Read more
Plans to introduce an online consultation system for GPs may not fix workload and waiting time issues in the way the government is hoping, it has been argued. Research, funded … Read more
GP leaders have raised concerns about the first NHS smartphone virtual GP service. The service will allow millions of NHS patients who live or work in various locations in London … Read more
Labour is demanding an inquiry into how trainee GPs did not receive their salaries from a private firm that is meant to pay them on behalf of the NHS. Jonathan Ashworth, … Read more
A third young people’s mental health service run by Cygnet Health Care has been heavily criticised by the Care Quality Commission – which ordered admissions to be suspended unless it … Read more
Virgin Care has demanded more money for a controversial prime provider contract it signed with commissioners in Staffordshire last year, HSJ has learned. East Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group has said it is … Read more
NHS England named Cygnet Health Care as a partner in a new care model for young people’s mental health 10 days after inspectors found serious failings at its hospital in … Read more
A mental health hospital in Woking recorded 24 serious incidents a year including serious self harm a CQC inspection has found. There were several serious failings including, failure to protect … 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
NHS Improvement has outlined plans to create 29 pathology networks across England in a bid to save £200m – or nine per cent of the total spend – as part … Read more
