Privatisation through the backdoor?

Margaret Thatcher was the first PM to allow private companies to bid for NHS services - in her case, the Cleaning Services. I have read that this was done by her advisers to stop what she really wanted to do which was to privatise the NHS fully (it was considered too risky politically). John Major carried it on, and Tony Blair embraced the Public/Private Initiatives (PPIs) that hospitals are still paying off today (and this is why most of them are deeply in debt). I learned only last week that our blood transfusion service is owned by an American company. Yes, privatisation by stealth - most people don't even realise it's happening, sadly.

As for Virgin's takeover of GP services - I read an interview where he said that the GP practices he already had, always had a GP available to see someone, and that was all that counted. He refused to take on board that most people want to see the same GP whenever they need an appointment! (And, actually, it's safer for that to happen - if a GP knows you, and knows what's "normal" for you, then he/she is far more likely to spot when something is going wrong). Private companies treat us like manufacturing units - it's all about "throughput".

I did not deny the existence if drunks in A&E ellenvannin. I hate the noise and disruption they cause as much as you do. However if you are going to pick apart everything I say, then get it right. I said the cut fingers and paracetamol calls for the ambulance service are an urban myth. Thank you.

Trouble is Virgin care cherry pick the most lucrative contracts and opt out of the necessary work that the NHS still has to provide.

I've lived abroad with no ambulance service unless you paid into a private scheme - that would save the NHS a bomb.

Whenever anyone went to the general hospital [not the private ones] there was a set fee of €6 - I'd imagine that might separate some of the time wasters.

The NHS is on its knees and will not be able to continue as it currently is for all that much longer.

I will back the NHS as a free service all the way as I have seen and helped, people who need medical treatment and can't afford even the basics in other countries. No good talking about health insurance when we have food banks. The NHS needs to get back to basics, that is treating those that are ill not drunks. 38 degrees has been campaigning against Richard B for some time now. We need to stop privatisation

My GP surgery was taken over by Virgin Health and my statins prescription was immediately changed for the cheapest generic version, in spite of the fact that I had initially been prescribed this and it gave me thumping headaches. I informed the practice that I had been paying National Insurance contributions since 1959 and considered that at the age of 74 I was entitled to be supplied with suitable medication. My prescription for Lipitor was reinstated. Last month I went to collect it only to be told by the pharmacy that they had no supplies and could only give me the headache inducing statin. It's all to do with profit for Richard Branson. The Labour politicians who set up the NHS must be rotating in their graves. And I won't start on why this vile government has ceased to pay bursaries to trainee nurses.

Jaxie this government is not only vile but pure ba.....ds.

I was aware of this and I am absolutely against it. I’ve signed numerous petitions to prevent it, but obviously to no avail. The government should be ashamed of their behaviour because as sure as eggs are eggs there will be no private providers queuing up for the Cinderella services like care of the elderly and mental health or if they are, their interests in profit will doubtless have an adverse affect on the quality of care. If staff are paid a decent salary and have good terms and conditions they are happy in their work and this transfers to the care they give. If staff are overwhelmed by the workload they cannot be expected to give the same standards of care and the turnover rate increases. An appalling state of affairs.

Our local mammogram services have been stopped and women are now having to travel about 40 miles for one
It is disgusting,not everyone has transport ,and train fare is expensive,which means a lot of women will not go

One of my neighbours is a nurse in the intensive care unit - only 8 beds and she says that at least 1 bed is usually occupied by someone who has been transferred from a private hospital - because something went wrong and they couldn't deal with it. Or, in other words, our NHS is regularly subsidising the profits of private "health" companies. It should be a scandal.

Several NHS services have been transferred to Virgin and other services in our local area, and I feel they are nowhere near as good.

My husband has Diebetes Type 2, and used to have regular annual checks on his feet. Now taken over by Virgin, the assistant said that he no longer needs these checks which used to be considered vital for diebetics.

Also, my son has glaucoma and used to have 2 eye checks yearly. Now taken over my ISight, checks have reduced to once yearly, and he has to travel further.

Steps in the wrong direction, I think.

And we have the US apparently waiting to take over parts of the NHS as part of a trade deal!, that and chlorinated chickens Groan. I will be v v v angry if US gets its hand on any of our NHS.

Medicare in Australia. My daughter lived there for 15 years. You have to pay upfront at the doctors and for prescriptions and get some of the costs back. All vaccinations cost. The only thing that is not paid for is emergency treatment. Dental charges are huge and even children have to be paid for. She couldn’t believe that dental treatment here for children was without up front cost.
Do I want further incursions by private medicine? No! I’d rather pay more tax and free at point of delivery.
I agree that private hospitals ship emergencies off the the NHS. I would hope they are charged the market rate for this service and also the costs associated with calling an ambulance, although I doubt that very much. Private hospitals should have to provide their own emergency care or pay the market rate. I loathe being ripped off by private, profit making organisations -the railways are a good example.
Education, social services and health care should have the financial input to provide proper services via public bodies.

All the effort should be going into making the NHS a truly public service, with the sole aim of providing health care. It should aim to be efficient, but not through simplistic managerialism such as arbitrary targets. It is a fantasy to suppose that businesses have a magic ingredient that makes them more efficient. I don’t believe in means testing or charging. They are discriminatory and inefficient. Wealthier people pay more tax, as they should. (To the extent that they don’t, that should be fixed). Removing free treatment would have side effects such as creating pools of untreated illness that are liable to harm everyone. Not to mention being inhumane.

Education and health should be priorities for government spending. They are not about making money, but about making a healthier, better informed society,which benefits everyone. My close family includes 3 GPs, and a surgeon, all of whom think as I do.

GillT57 well said. Of course people are happy to highlight "the drunks in A&E", the unnecessary ambulance call outs but are unwilling to share the success stories.
The fact is RB and others are taking funds away from the NHS, to make profit. If the money paid to these companies were put into the NHS we would have a successful service.
Companies who make profit from people do not give a shit about anything but profit ££££.
Underfunding and slyly selling off the service is the cause if the NHS being in a mess, not a minority of fools who abuse it.
I don't care what works in Australia, I care what happens to our NHS. Not for it to profit the elite of the country.

Unfortunately the Government doesnt want to run anything. Just hand over contracts to private companies. Makes their life easier and makes more shares for them to invest in. These companies then employ cheap labour which we have to top up financially to live. Therefore the companies make more profit and so it goes on. I get so grrrrr about how things are going in this country.

Why not a nominal annual insurance payment towards the NHS with an option to pay more such as they do in France ?

Do we pensioners still pay into the NHS via nat. insurance ? No, not any longer, so the loss of millions will have impacted and will continue to do so and this is exactly the time of life when treatment etc is most needed and usually more expensive. Treatment/services at the NHS doesn't stop when the nat.ins does-------it doesn't make sense to me.

Cancer screening is carried out at surgeries.

For cervical, that is.

All our public services (NHS, police, amublance, fire, schools, probation, prisons, etc, etc) must be accountable and be seen to be using their finances appropriately; however, privatised companies must make a profit for their various stakeholders and, in my experience, will put that above the service they provide - cutting provision and finding ways to ensure targets appear in keeping with what is desired.

I am against anything being privatised - look at the evidence- Public transport, schools, prisons, probationary service, NHS, etc You can't make a profit out of these things and should not be allowed to try instead we need to ensure rigorous managing/monitoring of these types of services.

This is a great grassroots non political voluntary group of people who are holding NHS England to account.

Feel free to take a read through,join in the campaigns and circulate to interested friends and family.

999callfornhs.org.uk/

EllanV, what happens to the people who can't afford even a small amount of payment? There are many pensioners on the breadline and we also have food banks, energy banks etc for those with nothing. Please don't anyone use the excuse that everyone can afford it because the can't, low wages, zero hours and this blasted Universal Credit system.

When I lived in Queensland during the 1970s there was a three tier health system. The public health tier was free to the uninsured and funded by a lottery, each month a luxury home was built in a nice area and fully furnished, tickets were sold and raised huge amounts, also some lucky family owned a beautiful new home. The second tier was intermediate level which was funded by private insurance and entitled one to a twin room and private consultancy to a certain level. The top level meant a higher monthly insurance payment and allowed a private room and a higher level of consultancy.
I don't know if the system has since changed but I felt it worked really well.
I would like to see funding of the NHS topped up by a national lottery and imagine that this would raise millions.
I don't want to see privatisation but I do feel the NHS needs a good shake up on the finance and admin side.
The overworked and underpaid, dedicated medical staff deserve better.