30th January 2022

Another £225 million to the private sector
The usual HSJ paywall here but it’s the same story. While the publicly-run NHS remains impoverished – there are 40,000 nurse vacancies – the Tory government continues to lavish millions of our NHS budget on the private healthcare sector. Yes the NHS is overstretched owing to Covid but also due to years of underfunding.

Appalling crowding in A&Es
The number of ‘trolley waits’ of more than 12 hours has continued to rise; leaked data suggest there will be more than 12,000 long waits in January, and senior medics warn of ‘appalling crowding’ in emergency departments.

Money spent on private sector: who benefits?
During the Covid crisis, private companies have pocketed millions in furlough payments while billing the NHS for services that we now know weren’t fully used.

Covid contracts: anything but transparent
61 Parliamentary Questions were submitted to Ministers seeking details on the cost of private contracts and the number of patients treated. But ministers were “unable to provide details” on the amounts paid to individual providers under the contract.