Full story in The Guardian, 31 August 2018
NHS bosses have urged hospitals to send patients to be treated by private healthcare firms in a bid to reduce the increasing number of patients waiting for planned operations.
The move has sparked claims that it will waste scarce NHS funding and that profit-driven operators will use the service’s desperation to cut waiting lists to charge higher prices.
The total number of patients in England on the waiting list – for procedures such as hip or knee replacements or cataract removals – rose to 4.3 million in June, the highest figure for a decade….
