How did a privatised hospital now rated the worst for caring in England, persuade so many journalists and politicians to hail it as a 'miracle'? Alex Nunns takes a satirical look.
Shocking examples of poor care are the real reason Circle withdrew from running Hinchingbrooke Hospital - they've got their eyes on easier ways to privatise the NHS, anyway.
More hospitals - potentially all of them - will be run outside the NHS as so-called "mutuals", the government announced this week. Nine have already set out down this path but who really benefits from "mutualisation"?
Hospital inspectors have written to the first 'franchised' NHS hospital warning them of serious concerns. And up the road, the NHS has won the largest single service tender yet - but only after having to waste a million pounds fighting off the private sector.
The first privatised NHS hospital, Circle Hinchingbrooke, is lauded as 'partnership' future by influential figures - but financial instability, deeply unhappy staff, and poor care are highlighted in a new report - and in a damning letter from the regulator today.
So-called 'John Lewis style mutuals' have been tried in the NHS - and flopped badly. So they want to give this Trojan horse for privatisation and asset-stripping new legs - and teeth.
All the big beasts of NHS privatisation are hoping to get their hands on older people's NHS services - though some are employing more innovative methods than others.
Nick Seddon, former lobbyist and private healthcare advocate, today walks through the doors of `10 Downing Street to lead on health policy formation for David Cameron. What does this say about Cameron’s real attitude to the lobbying game he has publicly decried? And what kind of policies will Seddon be pushing now? There are good reasons to be concerned.
More than one in four Conservative peers - 62 out of the total of 216 - and
many other members of the House of Lords have a direct financial interest in
the radical re-shaping of the NHS that is perilously close to being enacted.
These peers have been able to vote on the crucial divisions that will determine
the immediate and long-term future of the NHS and the coalition’s Health and
Social Care bill.
In the new
competitive market for healthcare created by the Health and Social Care Bill it
will become increasingly difficult to know what exactly is being done with
public money.
The coalition's misrepresentation of the mutual model is mere spin in aid of ‘Trojan horse privatisation’. It not only enables private sector entry into healthcare via the back door but also endangers real co-operatives and mutuals.
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