The BBC reports that secret documents show a scramble to safeguard critical public services from the potential collapse of tech giant Atos, which works with billions of pounds worth of … Read more
East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust seems determined to outsource nonclinical support services at Colchester Hospital, 12 years after boasting of the Colchester trust’s success at bringing them back … Read more
The Lowdown survey of 23 ICBs has revealed interesting new information on the extent of local dependence upon private sector clinical services, and the extent to which ICBs and trusts view the … Read more
A private equity-owned private finance initiative company, ByNorth, has agreed to pay for North Middlesex Hospital, London, to be made fire-safe. The company was responsible for building the hospital in … Read more
The BBC reports that the Thornbury Nursing Services staffing agency is routinely charging up to £2,000 a shift to provide last-minute freelance nurses to NHS hospitals. Glen Burley, chief executive … Read more
A chain of GP surgeries in London run by a private company has been operating “without permission” from NHS commissioners since December 2023, according to campaigners from North East London … Read more
The business press and private sector spin doctors are doing their best to talk up the growth of the private hospital sector despite increasing signs that the prices of private … Read more
A new analysis led by researchers at the University of Oxford and funded by the Nuffield Foundation has found that virtually all care homes forced to close in England by … Read more
David Rowland on the presence of private equity in the UK health and care market If you are in a vulnerable situation in the UK because of your age, personal … Read more
Privatisation of healthcare results in a reduction in quality of care according to a review paper published this week (1 March 2024) in The Lancet. The study’s authors from the University … Read more
John Hutton signed off thirteen NHS Private Finance Initiative (PFI) building projects as a Labour health minister in 2002 (see footnote). Last month he was appointed to speak up for private sector investors ahead … Read more
An investigation by HSJ has found that up to 20 per cent of NHS elective patients are now being treated by private hospitals in some areas. There has been an … Read more
Hammersmith & Fulham Save Our NHS (HAFSON) campaigners in North West London have told The Lowdown of a brewing row over leaked plans to force through a wholesale reorganisation of … Read more
Hundreds of thousands of cancer patients in the UK are being forced to pay for private treatment amid record NHS waiting times, according to data obtained by the Guardian. The proportion of … Read more
New regulations will reduce some forms of outsourcing in the NHS, but there are significant gaps which a UNISON campaign is aiming to fix. A reduction in the competitive tendering … Read more
The latest Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts (2022-23) have updated the published figures on NHS spending on private sector and non-NHS providers. They show that the private … Read more
Lowdown readers will have seen the widespread outrage about the latest revelations around Horizon and the Post Office, but many who have campaigned against privatisation and outsourcing won’t be too … Read more
The president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists has sparked a row with independent sector bosses after warning ophthalmology risks becoming largely privatised unless NHS England radically changes the specialty’s … Read more
The latest figures from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) make worrying reading for private hospital bosses, with no sign of the long-expected boost in numbers of patients dipping in to savings … Read more
The giant American health corporation Centene has now completed a divestment of all its health care investments in England by selling off its subsidiary Operose, which had controversially acquired 60 GP … Read more
