NHS....privatisation by the front door

[eighthobstruction]

File on 4 : A Healthy Market....http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...ealthy_Market/

<<The biggest ever slice of the NHS is up for grabs in Cambridgeshire. Ten bidders, including NHS hospital trusts and private companies Serco, Virgin Care and Circle, are competing for a five year contract to run older peoples' services. It will be worth a minimum of £700,000. The successful bidder will provide everything from podiatry and occupational therapy to dementia treatment and end of life care. The stakes are high. But how much will patients be told about how the bid was won? With commissioners advertising dozens of other big money tenders, File on 4 looks at the secrecy surrounding NHS contracts when they're awarded and when they're challenged. Does commercial confidentiality make public accountability impossible? And how far does the competitive market improve healthcare for patients?>>

Difficult to find answers because of Commercial confidentiality but it seems the NHS is going the way many us expected during the passing of the Health & Social Care Act 2012....in that to find answers about efficiency of services one now comes up against Companies and Commissioning groups which do not supply answers....so they cannot be monitored properly....

[teamsaint]

Caught a bit of this on 5 live yesterday.
Basically, some areas just don't commission these important services any more.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/5live/posts/Shelagh-Fogarty-writes-about-her-stammer-hears-from-others-who-stammer

It's like the legendary theft of the grand piano from a Brighton Department store in broad daylight.

[teamsaint]

here's an interesting thing.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/nhs-adviser-sir-stuart-rose-has-private-health-link-9129592.html

[Serial_Apologist]

I understand that the new inco,ing head of the NHS has called for a reversal of the 30 + years' trend of favouring large centralised hospitals at the expense of closing down cottage hospitals. Is this to be welcomed? Some are claiming that any new or re-opened hospitals will be run by private companies.

[teamsaint]

I understand that the new inco,ing head of the NHS has called for a reversal of the 30 + years' trend of favouring large centralised hospitals at the expense of closing down cottage hospitals. Is this to be welcomed? Some are claiming that any new or re-opened hospitals will be run by private companies.

I wonder if, with growing population and previous closures of smaller units, some of the bigger general hospitals are close to capacity?

Change is certainly an opportunity for more privatisation.

[ahinton]

I understand that the new inco,ing head of the NHS has called for a reversal of the 30 + years' trend of favouring large centralised hospitals at the expense of closing down cottage hospitals. Is this to be welcomed? Some are claiming that any new or re-opened hospitals will be run by private companies.

Whilst I have no idea how true such claims might be, which would you prefer, as a matter of interest - new or re-opened hospitals to be run by private companies or new ones not being built and run at all and older closed ones not being re-opened at all?

[teamsaint]

Whilst I have no idea how true such claims might be, which would you prefer, as a matter of interest - new or re-opened hospitals to be run by private companies or new ones not being built and run at all and older closed ones not being re-opened at all?

An "are you still beating your wife" type of question , AH? Well you know what I mean.

A different question in a different kitchen

Would you like new,good quality hospitals, NHS funded and run , close to where you live or work?

or not?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Whilst I have no idea how true such claims might be, which would you prefer, as a matter of interest - new or re-opened hospitals to be run by private companies or new ones not being built and run at all and older closed ones not being re-opened at all?

I once taught in a school where pupil behaviour deteriorated following the appointment of a new head teacher. When the staff expressed their concern, his response was to say the children were far better behaved than in his previous school.

In the years that followed, the school went from bad to worse. I understand that is has now closed.

There's a connection here.

[Serial_Apologist]

Whilst I have no idea how true such claims might be, which would you prefer, as a matter of interest - new or re-opened hospitals to be run by private companies or new ones not being built and run at all and older closed ones not being re-opened at all?

Gosh - what a choice to decide between such enticing options! You don't really expect me to answer that one, do you?