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
Outsourcing
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
As the most vulnerable NHS mental health patients face growing waits for treatment, and the health secretary has announced that new staff ministers announce they want to start talking about … Read more
A total, constipated silence from the NHS and ministers shrouds the long-delayed new “mega lab” that was supposed to have opened in Leamington Spa last January as part of the … Read more
Research carried out by the Labour Party shows that more than £96bn of health service funding has gone to non-NHS providers of care over the last decade, with the amount … Read more
The welcome news has leaked out that Frimley Health is not going to go ahead with any further work on setting up a Wholly Owned Subsidiary. Two years of effort by … Read more
A leaked version of the new NHS White Paper has confirmed the government’s plan to remove the much criticised competition rules, which allow commercial companies to bid for a vast array of … Read more
The Times reports that Andrew Mills, a former government adviser who brokered the bungled £250 million PPE contract with Ayanda Capital, has used an obscure change in company status to … Read more
The professional body representing laboratory staff, the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS), has expressed concerns over the plans – revealed to trade unions by Dido Harding – for the first of … Read more
The Guardian reports that the government’s £22bn test-and-trace system has failed to reach more than 100,000 people exposed to coronavirus in England’s worst-hit areas since the second wave began with … Read more
A determined fight by 72 in-house support staff at Hinchingbrooke Hospital has successfully fought off plans by North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust to outsource the services without even submitting … Read more
Lowdown readers may remember that the SE London Integrated Care System (‘Our Healthier South East London’ – OHSEL) has been overseeing the drawing up of a huge pathology network contract … Read more
This article gives an overview of the failures that have taken place when non-NHS organisations (private and not-for-profit) have been awarded contracts to run NHS services. Failures have taken place … Read more
A seemingly endless succession of large-scale “Framework Agreements” have been rolled out by NHS England and the Department of Health in recent months, creating conditions for more rapid award of … Read more
DESPITE MOUNTING OPPOSITION the Board of Directors at Homerton University Hospital Foundation Trust (HUHFT) in Hackney, east London looks set to ink a further five-year contract for ‘soft facility’ management … Read more
PAUL EVANS – director of the NHS Support Federation, comments Millions of patients had their treatment put on hold whilst the NHS battled Covid-19, and waited with considerable anxiety not knowing when … Read more
When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the NHS was unprepared due to its “heavily privatised, convoluted, and fundamentally dysfunctional system” of product supply, in particular of personal protective equipment (PPE), according … Read more
Serco has apologised after accidentally sharing the email addresses of almost 300 contact tracers. The company has been employed by the government to recruit staff as contact tracers for cases … Read more
According to NHS figures, around half of all NHS trusts have outsourced their pharmacy services to save tax under a VAT loophole. Under the current tax law, NHS Trusts have … Read more
NHS workers in West Yorkshire are striking against a plan to transfer porters, cleaners and other support staff to a ‘wholly-owned subsidiary’ called Bradford Healthcare Facilities Management Ltd on 1 … Read more
