Health News Blog

Scandal of care home profit-taking
The financial model underpinning the UK care home industry is unsustainable. £261 million of the annual income received by the largest 26 care home providers goes towards paying off their debts. Of this £117m (45%) are payments to related, and often offshore, companies. Read the Exec Summary on page 5.

Supercars, yachts and a private jet...
Three people have been arrested as part of an investigation into a £76 million care home scandal that saw investor cash spent on supercars, yachts and a private jet.

Private hospitals 'cannibalising the NHS'
While the NHS is deliberately underfunded the private healthcare sector is making huge profits our of our NHS budget. Why not invest this funding into training and employing more doctors and nurses?

Tax cuts versus funds for crumbling NHS
Hunt's budget has put tax cuts ahead of supporting our crumbling public services. With the NHS facing rampant inflation and increased patient demand for years to come, a lack of investment will inevitably result in real-terms cuts.

The NHS is now voters top concern
The state of the National Health Service has overtaken soaring prices as the issue most Britons believe is the biggest challenge facing the UK. Whereas Tory philosophy is to impoverish public services to make them easier to privatise, the NHS remains popular with the public who don't want it privatised.

Physician assistants in roles beyond their ability
Trainee physician associates are being employed to work with patients despite having so little medical training. The BMA is deeply concerned about the blurring of boundaries between doctors who hold a primary medical qualification and others who do not.

Improve welfare or poverty will soar
14.4 million people in the UK are now in poverty, with the situation set to worsen without radical change. A research project looking at the experiences of families living on low incomes, identifies the two key challenges as being measures to tackle poverty, and policies to open opportunities to good quality work.

Massive NHS repair backlog
Disrepair in NHS buildings led to thousands of potentially harmful incidents last year including critically ill patients being moved when rainfall came through the ceiling. Sewage leaks, floods and failing equipment also featured in incident records.

Labour's plans for the NHS "Woeful"
A campaigner slams Labour - its preoccupation with ‘costs’ rather than ‘benefits’ necessarily means that spending on public services casts them as a burden rather than an investment that will improve people’s lives and make the make the economy more productive”.

US giants that rake in NHS billions
During the past 10 years, despite their often murky history, Bridgepoint, Bupa, Centene, Spire, United Health Group won a share of public health and social care contracts with a combined value of £70.59 billion.

Junior doctors strike: not just about pay
The co-chair of Keep Our NHS Public explains the other factors that are a cause of strife. Poor workplace conditions and staff vacancies contribute to their irritation.

Victorian era diseases return to UK
A surge in infectious diseases reflects the cost of living crisis and decade-long cuts to social services and public health, which have left Britain with one of the poorest and most vulnerable populations in Europe.

ITV's Breathtaking: NHS staff treated as expendable
"The terrible truth for patients and staff was that, at times of peak Covid pressure, NHS standards of care were savaged".

Sunak holding up deal with junior docs - surely not!
The PM has been accused of being "a blocker" to a successful deal. Anybody would think the Tories need an excuse on the appalling length of waiting times to cover for 14 years of NHS under-funding.

Labour's NHS plans: Fit for the Future?
Labour seems more than happy to endorse the magic efficiency tree, rather than give the NHS a clearly needed injection of funds. It's disappointing to see in Labour’s 'Build an NHS fit for the future' that there's so little ambition. Here's an NHS campaigner's view.

NHS planning dictated by media headlines
First NHS England instructs Integrated Care Boards to raid dental budgets for funding, then it reverses its decision with the recent media stories of the dirth of NHS dentistry. So much for independent local control of our healthcare.

1.5 million patients wait for 12 hours in A&E
More than 1.5 million patients in England had to wait 12 hours or longer in A&E in the past year, and one in seven people in England are waiting for treatment. Why? Not strikes, nor the pandemic. It was austerity that brought the NHS to its knees.

Virtual wards: value for money?
A study published by BMJ assessed 318 virtual ward patients with a range of conditions. It found that while their initial hospital stay was shorter, they also experienced higher rates of readmission, which ultimately led to additional costs.