Galloping NHS Privatisation

27 August 2019
 
In an article I wrote for the London Economic in February 2018 I claimed that in the years from 2010 – 2018 the NHS was no longer the public health service this country had once been so proud of. That Aneurin Bevan's claim that, “Illness is neither an indulgence for which people have to pay, nor an offence for which they should be penalised, but a misfortune, the cost of which should be shared by the community” no longer held true. That in those eight years companies such as Bupa, Virgin Care and Care UK had won more than 130 NHS service contracts worth £2.6bn to provide NHS services. 33 companies in total.

In April of this year 21 NHS contracts worth £127 million were out to tender – 19 in the two months alone of February to April 2019. These included a £91 million contract to run an NHS assessment service in the South East, a £16m deal to provide health services in Leicestershire and a £6m tender for a GP surgery in High Wycombe (source: House of Commons Library)

I do not have figures for the twelve months following my TLE article (February 2018 to February 2019) nor for the most recent four months. I can only fear that the list is growing exponentially. My GP recently sent me for an eye test, not to a hospital opthamology department, but to Specsavers. I imagine others reading this will be able to add to the list.

Can anyone tell me why I should not remain a member of the Labour Party and supporter of Jeremy Corbyn for PM?

No sane and certainly no ill person can continue to vote Conservative.

The Lib Dems anybody? Their new leader, Jo Swinson, voted to remove the restriction on the amount of income a foundation trust can earn from private charges and in support of the Government's NHS reorganisation, wth its emphasis on further privatisation. She famously backed tightening benefit sanctions in exchange for a 5p plastic bag charge.