More Nhs Privatisation On The Way ?

[Canary42]

Typical Tory sleaze - and more tax-payers money to line rich shareholders pockets. The transfer of OUR NHS to Tory cronies will obviously continue.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/new-health-secretary-matt-hancock-12891819

[Kromovaracun]

Just like Andrew Lansley. Corrupt.

I sincerely doubt the Tories are angling for actual privatisation though - the reality is more depressing. Vast swathes of the NHS have already been repurposed to funnel public money from the health budget into the pockets of private individuals and profiteers - including major Tory party donors like Care UK. It's far easier to trade horses for political gain when you can divert health spending like that than it would be if the health service did not exist.

[Kromovaracun]

Circle Health: £1.5 million donated to Conservatives, gets £1.36 billion in NHS contracts.

Care UK: Donates £200k to Conservatives, gains £100 million in NHS contracts

https://www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/jos-bell/tory-links-of-health-agencies-exposed-as-hunt-lines-up-next-nhs-selloff-in-england

The state of the NHS does very well for a very small group of people, who all just happen to be prominent donors to the government.

Do people really believe that this is just a coincidence?

[ToraToraTora]

struggling to see where the privatization is in that article canary.

[Old_Geezer]

Donations from those who want more privatization and who provide private health services for profit already ? Difficult to infer any privatization in that, especially when the article uses the word so rarely.

[jno]

you don't think wanting to scrap the NHS implies any privatisation, OG?

[cassa333]

Well tbh apart from back hangers and cronyism (that happens in all big business somewhere along the lines) I don’t have too much of a problem with privatisation.

Private businesses tend to not waste so much and provide the service while still making a profit. Breaking even or more to the point working within a budget seems to be a problem for the NHS so they are doing something with their money for sure.

[Old_Geezer]

It's still more expensive, and your health service also then lacks control. The answer isn't privatization it's getting it right in-house.

[fiction-factory]

>"you don't think wanting to scrap the NHS implies any privatisation, OG?" (jno, 17:31)

Who wants to scrap the NHS, jno?

[jno]

[i]Health Secretary Matt Hancock has accepted £32,000 from the chairman of a think-tank which wants to scrap the NHS.[i]

first sentence of the link, ff.

[Kromovaracun]

I'm not sure returning Britain to the barbaric days when you didn't get medical treatment if you were too poor is a sensible idea.

As I say, though, I don't think that's the endgame here. The endgame is to turn the NHS into a machine for moving public money into private pockets. And it's pretty damn close by now.

[fiction-factory]

Well there is no chance of the NHS being scrapped in our lifetime. There is no implication that any ministers want to scrap it, but, like the Blair Labour government, they do see a need for some privatisation

[New Judge]

The NHS makes widespread use of independent contractors providing essentially "privatised" services. Examples are dentists, opticians, and, most widely used of all, General Practitioners.

The current NHS model is unsustainable and no other country uses anything like it. It was fine seventy years ago when the population of the UK was about two thirds what it is today, when the service only provided essential and basic services and when people were lucky to live a year or two after retirement.

It is no longer sustainable. People who are poor (and those who are not) already have difficulty accessing healthcare: they wait weeks for GP appointments, spend hours if they are unfortunate enough to need A&E, wait months or even years for hospital treatment and suffer pain and discomfort in the process. The NHS is not the envy of the world and it is doubtful that it ever was. If it was so good other nations would have copied it and none has.

Piling ever-increasing sums of taxpayers' cash into it is not the answer. It does not work and needs radical overhaul. If that means making more use of private contractors then so be it. It is stupid to cry "the end of the NHS" every time changes are proposed.

[Kromovaracun]

It would need a good deal less public cash if it was not infested with parasite companies taking their cut.

[naomi24]

//Typical Tory sleaze//

Really? Labour didn’t hesitate in throwing money the way of private enterprise.

//The use of PFI was very limited until 1997 but became widespread under the New Labour government//

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_finance_initiative

[10ClarionSt]

Cassa, what are back hangers? (20.54) The NHS is the only thing the Tories haven't privatised. But they will if they can. They will.

[Kromovaracun]

Yes, and New Labour is of course infamous for stealing all the opposition's policies in order to get elected. Thankfully, the Labour party is no longer in the hands of Blairites.

[fiction-factory]

back handers

[naomi24]

Krom, //New Labour is of course infamous for stealing all the opposition's policies in order to get elected. Thankfully, the Labour party is no longer in the hands of Blairites.//

That sounds rather self-defeating. Labour stole the opposition’s policies in order to get elected – but now they’re not stealing the opposition’s policies, so what chance in an election?

[Kromovaracun]

Sadly, probably not much. Because voters typically either don't care or actively like this kind of thing.

[gulliver1]

"NHS" Founded by Labour for everyone. privatised By the Conservatives for the few.