Study links private equity to poorer care
The takeover of healthcare services by private equity funds is associated with a worse quality of care and higher costs, according to the largest study ever undertaken on the effect … Read more
Government likely to lose millions in dispute over PPE contract
The Guardian reports that the UK government is unlikely to recover any money from a healthcare recruitment agency that allegedly failed to deliver on a multimillion-pound PPE contract awarded during … Read more
Does it help the NHS if richer people ‘go private’
The NHS was set up to be a universal health service, covering the whole population, providing care according to clinical need, not ability to pay, and funded from general taxation. … Read more
Palantir awarded £25m NHSE deal to ‘transition’ to federated data platform
HSJ reports that NHS England has awarded Palantir a new £24.9m contract to “transition” its existing NHS projects into the new federated data platform – a £480m deal expected to … Read more
Private sector can’t solve crisis in waits for NHS ops
The (£ paywalled) Times has reported that one of the outcomes of Rishi Sunak’s controversial taskforce on boosting NHS contracts with private hospitals will be a new push to persuade patients to … Read more
Practice Plus taking legal action over contract award
Practice Plus Group (PPG) is taking legal action against NHS England over the award of contracts for prison healthcare in the South West, lodging papers with the High Court alleging one … Read more
GP provider in financial turmoil
The digital health company Babylon Health is set to withdraw from the New York Stock Exchange and become a private company again as its leading creditor AlbaCore Capital LLP, takes … Read more
Patients will be able to use NHS app to opt for private hospital care
Sky News has reported on a report in The Times that patients will soon be able to use the NHS app to opt for private hospital treatment in an effort … Read more
Patients paying £550 an hour to see private GPs
The Guardian reports that patients are paying up to £550 an hour to see private GPs amid frustration at the delays many face getting an appointment with an NHS family doctor. Growing … Read more
Priory Group whistleblowers ‘concerned for patient safety’
Two former senior managers at The Priory Group, a large mental health provider, have told the BBC they had concerns about the safety of patients and staff. The whistleblowers claim … Read more
MPs question private sector contribution to NHS elective recovery
Two weeks ago, the Lowdown took a detailed look at the situation of the private healthcare sector. We were seeking to understand why – after 13 years of policies promoting privatisation and … Read more
Tory health minister’s wife works for private firm handed NHS contracts
The wife of a Neil O’Brien, a Conservative health minister, works for a private firm that has been handed NHS contracts, it has been revealed. Neil O’Brien’s spouse is GP engagement lead … Read more
NHS paid private firms £500m to ‘ease backlog’.
OpenDemocracy reports that the private hospital sector saw 6.6% fewer people in 2022 than 2019, despite lucrative contracts to fix wait lists. The government handed almost half a billion pounds … Read more
Hospital ‘left in unsafe condition’ by private contractor
The PFI contractor, Whittington Facilities Ltd, left a hospital ‘in an unsafe condition’ for nine months after a fire which required patients to be evacuated, a trust has claimed in … Read more
Sunak seeks powers to boost flagging private sector
According to a recent report in the (£paywalled) Times, Rishi Sunak’s so-called “elective recovery task force,” steered no doubt by its private sector participants, is planning new legislation this summer … Read more
Over a thousand ‘sexual safety incidents’ in a single 59-bed children’s unit
NHS figures analysed by The Independent have found that a single children’s mental health hospital with just 59 beds reported more than 1,600 “sexual safety incidents” in four years. The … Read more
Hospital at centre of rape and death inquiries to close after investigation by The Independent
A scandal-hit children’s mental health hospital will close months after an investigation by The Independent uncovered claims of poor care and systemic abuse. Taplow Manor hospital, in Maidenhead, was threatened with closure by the … Read more
‘Profiteering’ of Covid pandemic must never be repeated, world figures warn
The Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, former first lady of South Africa and Mozambique Graça Machel and former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon are among nearly 200 signatories to a letter calling on … Read more
MP’s daughter threatened to sue for VIP commission
The Good Law Project, a not-for-profit organisation, has discovered that Victoria Aitken, daughter of the disgraced former Tory Cabinet Minister, Jonathan Aitken, threatened to sue a successful VIP PPE bidder … Read more
The Scandal of SubCos Revealed
A January HSJ article has confirmed what trade union representatives and Labour MPs have repeatedly argued: that the creation of ‘wholly owned’ sub companies by NHS Trusts (and FTs) was in almost every case, … Read more
