nhs privatisation
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“Appalling” service by private firm leaves NHS patients without drugs By Melanie Newman
Healthcare watchdogs and patient groups slam private equity owned ‘Healthcare at Home’ whose failures are leaving frightened patients waiting for desperately needed drugs. Thousands of NHS patients, some seriously ill, have not received vital medicines on time because of problems at the company contracted to deliver the drugs to these patients in their own homes. Continue reading
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Renationalisation of the rail services? Why not start with the NHS? By David Zigmond
Labour is flirting with the idea of renationalising the railways – but it should start by renationalising the NHS. Continue reading
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NHS: “The worst thing a UK government has done to its people in my lifetime” By Marcus Chown
I’m a science writer. I usually write about the big bang and parallel universes black holes. But I was born in the NHS, my wife is an NHS nurse and I can see that the NHS is rapidly disappearing down a black hole. The NHS is one of the fairest, most efficient and cost-effective healthcare… Continue reading
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Three crucial safeguards for medical records proposed by leading voices on care.data By Caroline Malloy
Public health professor Allyson Pollock has called on parliament to pass three crucial amendments in next week’s care.data debate to ensure public health, not commercial interest, is at the heart of the new NHS IT system. Continue reading
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David Cameron praises ‘Health Heroes’ while he destroys the NHS By Tim Crocker-Buqué
In a Daily Mail campaign the Prime Minister deploys his personal tragedy and patronises health care workers as ‘angels in aprons’. Misleading rhetoric provides cover for Cameron’s legislative demolition of the NHS. Continue reading
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The only ‘parity’ for mental health is that it is being cut and privatised as well By Peter Beresford
Mental health services are amongst the hardest hit by cuts and privatisation. A new Charter suggests how people can build alliances and fight back. Continue reading
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Will Labour defend the NHS from the EU/US trade deal? By Linda Kaucher
Andy Burnham and John Healey’s statments on the risks to the NHS of the trade deal between the EU and the US seem at odds. Labour should be speaking clearly for the NHS. There is increasingly informed public concern about the relationship between the NHS and the huge US/EU ‘free trade’ agreement, the Transatlantic Trade… Continue reading
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A moment of honesty is required – New Labour began the dismantling of our NHS By Kailash Chand
It is universally accepted that the creation of the National Health Service is the single greatest achievement of the Labour party. The neglect of the NHS was a principal contributor to the downfall of the last Conservative Government and it was a major issue that helped New Labour mobilise mass political support for a landslide… Continue reading
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Patients occupy threatened mental health clinic, some signs of victory? By Steve Sweeney
A seven-week occupation of a Cambridge NHS mental health clinic in Britain threatened with closure is having more success than past campaigning – is this the way forward? Continue reading
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Family doctor services “under severe threat of extinction” in Britain By Mark Blackwood
RCGP president Dr. Maureen Baker told the Guardian that the GP health care service, which is the bedrock of the National Health Service (NHS) and accounts for 90 percent of all patient contact is “in crisis”. “GPs and practice nurses can’t keep doing more for less now that funding for general practice in England has… Continue reading
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NHS Foundation Trusts – a democratic failure? By Richard Berry
10 years ago Alan Milburn launched the first Foundation Trusts. But despite his rhetoric of ‘greater local control’ the reality is apathy and powerlessness. Is it time for a different approach? Continue reading
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Nuffield Trust report exposes Tory lies on Welsh NHS By Tony Beddow
David Cameron claimed last week that the Welsh border was “the dividing line between life and death”. A new Nuffield Trust report shows such rhetoric is dishonest. In fact a thorough comparison of the UK health systems – published earlier that day by the independent Nuffield Trust – showed that overall, NHS Wales compares well. Continue reading
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Kings Fund suggests NHS fees – but is it really ‘independent’? By Gary Walker
The question of NHS ‘affordability’ is used by think tanks and politicians to browbeat us into accepting regressive changes that suit the few, not the many. Better options to save money are ignored. Continue reading
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The World Bank, the PFI hospital and the destruction of a nation's healthcare system By Anna Marriott
The World Bank promised Lesotho that its PFI-style hospital – the first in any low-income country – would cost the same as its old public hospital. Instead it is eating up half the entire nation’s health budget, while paying 25% returns to the private partner. It now costs Lesotho’s government $67 million per year, or… Continue reading
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Don’t believe the hype – the Welsh NHS has much to teach England By Julian Tudor-Hart
Cameron this week labelled the Welsh NHS ‘a scandal’. But this is largely a propaganda war, designed to discredit the non-privatised path the Welsh have taken. The Welsh created the NHS, modeled on miners’ mutual aid schemes. They have so far strongly resisted attempts to return healthcare to market competition. Since devolution a new generation… Continue reading
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Who is behind Reform’s call for NHS charges? By Tamasin Cave
The private health insurance industry has been trying to get think tanks to help it make money in Britain for the last 10 years. Is today’s report by Reform calling for NHS charges the result? Continue reading
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Shock U-turn as sell-off of George Eliot hospital cancelled By Caroline Molloy
The planned sell-off of George Elliott hospital has been cancelled, hailed as a victory for common sense by unions and campaigners. Continue reading
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Tory links of health agencies exposed as Hunt lines up next NHS sell-off By Jos Bell
Whilst understaffed wards and surgeries turn to well-connected private sector agencies to fill the gaps created by Cameron’s health ‘reforms’, the NHS’s own in-house recruitment agency is to be sold off, it has emerged. Despite a turnover of about £450million, the agency operates with low profit margins, with most funds going to staff pay rather… Continue reading
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UK parliament approves assault on National Health Service By Robert Stevens
In a move heralding a major assault on the National Health Service (NHS), parliament voted through legislation on March 11 allowing the health secretary to close hospitals and cut services, with virtually no challenges allowed. The vote on Clause 119 of the Care Bill was passed by 297 MPs with 239 against. Continue reading
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London’s NHS at the crossroads By John Lister
A duty of candour for NHS managers and ending cash-driven closures – those are amongst the recommendations of the People’s Inquiry into London’s NHS which raises serious concerns of creaking services in the capital. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 