Almost 70% of contracts for NHS services in England between April-December 2013 were won by private firms, a campaign group claims.
NHS reforms mean "qualified providers" can bid to provide clinical services, such as scans and out-of-hours care.
The NHS Support Federation, which opposes a competitive market in the NHS, said that, of 57 contracts awarded, 39 went to private firms.
The government said the figures were "selective and misleading".
The NHS Support Federation said 15 of the 57 contracts went to the NHS, two went to charities and one was shared between the NHS and a non-NHS supplier.
They cover everything from mental health services, GP and out-of-hours services and diagnostics such as blood tests, X-rays and scans.
"This is the only way we can overcome the financial and workload challenges in the NHS.
"However, it will depend on the the bravery - as well as the appetite - of the politicians to go that far."
But campaigners like Dr Jacky Davis, of Keep our NHS Public, say competitive tendering is undermining the National Health Service.
"The problem is the government are wasting tens of millions of pounds on these contracts, money that should be spent on front-line patient care.
"These companies have a record of just walking away when things go wrong and dumping the problems back on the NHS as we saw with the PIP breast implants scandal.
"This isn't privatisation by the back door, it's privatisation by the front door, and it is really putting patients' lives at risk."
More on this story here.
Eddie
2 comments:
Just heard a very robust defence of a non-privatised NHS from an NHS Support Federation representative on LBC.
The NSF website refers to an interesting article about this
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9962195/NHS-reforms-From-today-the-Coalition-has-put-the-NHS-up-for-grabs.html
These contracts came up for tender from legislation passed on April 1st 2013. The coalition are trying to take us all for fools !
As the article says
"This is what saddens me: what were once the NHS’s strengths – resources, expertise and the united focus on the patient – are being replaced by a fragmented and atomised service, bound not by a duty of care but by a contract and driven, not by what is best for the patient, but by the cost of the encounter. It will be a slow, insidious creep but it’s coming. Be prepared. This is the way the NHS ends: not with a bang but a whimper."
Geoff J
Great comment Geoff
I am hoping to scratch along and rub out before the NHS has gone as we know it. God knows what our kids have to look forward to. The Brits take anything for a long while, but when they are cornered and up against the wall, they come out fighting big time.
Eddie
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