A barrage of publicity surrounded the publication last week of the long-awaited report of Rishi Sunak’s 17-strong “taskforce” on elective recovery, which was set up last December. There was no … Read more
privatisation
The BBC reports that ministers want to unlock spare capacity to get more people the treatment and operations they need. This includes opening eight privately-run diagnostic centres and using new … Read more
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
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
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
With no long-term NHS workforce strategy on the horizon, the government’s default policy on slashing elective waiting lists – pushing more NHS patients towards private hospitals dependent on NHS-trained staff … Read more
At the end of last year Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting decided to wind up Labour supporters and delight Telegraph readers by proposing increased use of the private … Read more
NHS England has revealed plans to crack down on poor care being provided by mental health service providers. The organisation has told HSJ of a new quality programme that focuses on … Read more
Privatisation of the NHS has been found to correspond to a decline in care quality and “significantly” increased deaths from treatable causes, according to a study from researchers at the … Read more
The private cancer diagnostic and treatment company Rutherford Health has been placed into liquidation. Only eight months ago the opening of a new community diagnostics hub (CDH) within a partnership between … Read more
The chair of the RCGP has warned that there is a ‘real threat’ that general practice will face the same fate as dentistry in the UK – where a growing … Read more
Campaigners have been reacting to the government decision to flog off the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC), which is being built near Oxford with over £215m of taxpayers’ money, … Read more
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve learnt a number of incredibly important lessons on public health. We’ve learnt the UK government was woefully and unnecessarily unprepared to handle a pandemic of … Read more
While NHS resources are facing a renewed and tightening financial squeeze, the limited funds available are more likely than ever to be diverted to paying for services in private hospitals … 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 report from the think-tank IPPR warns that the growing numbers of Britons paying for private medical treatment could lead to a shift that could undermine the NHS and create a “two-tier” … Read more
As Sajid Javid announces further private sector involvement in the NHS with the Elective Recovery Plan, there are warnings from ophthalmologists that the safety of NHS patients could be put at … Read more
The NHS England ‘Delivery Plan’ to tackle the growing backlog of waiting list treatment, announced on February 8, is not a plan at all. It lacks sufficient investment and – … Read more
NHS England’s annual accounts show that NHS commissioners’ spending on private healthcare were up 27% to more than £18bn in 2020-21, with pandemic effects causing it to rise faster than … Read more
The evidence of a massive increase in people in need of help from mental health services in the UK is now incontrovertible. NHS England reports 1.4 million people on the … Read more
