Health News Blog

Private providers 3 times more expensive
Northamptonshire ICB found the use of independent providers under “right to choose” rules for diagnosis and treatment of autism and ADHD was up to three times more expensive than their local provision.

Outsourcing 'fuels inequality and longer waits'
The expansion of private providers into NHS-funded care has reduced surgical admissions at NHS hospitals and is associated with rising waiting times for all patients. The poorest 20% of patients were significantly less likely to be treated in the private sector and faced longer waiting times than the richest 20%.

Not enough GP training posts
We often hear that there are “ongoing difficulties in recruiting enough GPs” but currently, the crisis is not in recruitment but frozen recruitment. Thousands of doctors who applied to train as GPs are rejected each year due to lack of training posts. The shortage of GPs is entirely within the government’s control, bound by funding.

Hospitals paid to remove patients from waiting
Hospitals in England are being offered unlimited bonus payments to remove people they have decided do not need treatment from their waiting lists.

NHS now corporate health
When privatisation is already so deeply embedded in the NHS, we can’t just blindly argue for ‘more funding’ to solve its problems.

Corporate profits in eye care
This Centre for Health and Public Interest report looks at how the very rapid growth in private sector provision of NHS cataract care has happened and the profits of some of the companies involved.

Samantha Jones: permanent secretary
Former CEO of Operose Health, a large privately-owned chain of NHS GP practices and chief executive of West Hertfordshire and Epsom and St Helier Hospitals Trusts, is appointed permanent secretary in DHSC.

Politicians funded by private healthcare
When private companies and people linked to the private healthcare sector give donations and benefits to senior Labour politicans, they might expect something in return.

Hedge Fund Labour
Since early 2020 the party has stopped condemning NHS privatisation and privateer donors have returned. Read on for a summary of Labour’s donor links to the private health industry.

Court rules on Physician Assistants
The BMA sought to establish that the application of 'Good Medical Practice' to PAs and the use of the term ‘medical professionals’ by the GMC are both ‘unlawful’. However, the BMA called the High Court decision ‘regrettable’ ruling in favour of the GMC.

Starmer vists Palantir HQ
Mandelsen, now British Ambassador to US, arranged for Starmer to visit Palantir. Did they discuss Palantir’s work with US agencies accused of separating children from their parents, wrongfully detaining thousands of US citizens and forcibly sterilising women?

Paramedics are "watching patients die"
The gridlock of patients to hospitals has led to queues of up to 20 ambulances outside casualty departments. In a number of cases, crews have been forced to wait more than 12 hours before handing over patients.

Physicain assistant failure "hairing raising"
The British Madicasl Association (BMA) has compiled a report detailing more than 600 examples of physician associates (PAs) putting patient safety at risk or causing serious harm.

ICB staff to be made redundant
ICBs have been given until the end of May to plan how they will cut their costs. This will involve "reducing costs to cross-system arrangements”. This means merging ICBs into larger groupings.

VIP lane: private company executive arrested
Luxe Listyle Ltd. had no employees, was in thousands of pounds of debts, yet two people involved with the troubled company are being investigated by HMRC for a £25 million frand.

Palantir? There is an alternative
Our health service data, unified and accurate, offers huge possibilities for health research. But handing it all over to a military surveillance company like Palantir isn’t the only option.

UK wide maternity crisis
Crises at Morecambe Bay, then Shrewsbury and Telford, then East Kent - the problem at the heart of the NHS's maternity care failures.

Missing nurses, a morale issue?
A third of England’s acute hospitals are consistently missing more than one in ten of the nurses they have planned for. Is rock-bottom morale the problem?

Mental health budget to fall yet again
This reduction comes despite growing pressure on mental health services and warnings of a deepening crisis. Charities expressed dismay at the news, predicting a further decline in the nation's mental health with repercussions across society.