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Found 208 results
  1. News Article
    People administering Botox or fillers will be required to have a licence under new laws after an “unacceptable” rise in reports of botched cosmetic procedures in the UK. The legislation to protect against rogue practitioners will make it an offence to perform such non-surgical work without a licence after Sajid Javid said “far too many people have been left emotionally and physically scarred” when things have gone wrong. The health secretary recognised that most of those in the aesthetics industry “follow good practice” when it comes to patient safety but said it was time to think about the harm botched cosmetic procedures can have. “We’re doing all we can to protect patients from potential harm, but I urge anyone considering a cosmetic procedure to take the time to think about the impact on both their physical and mental health and ensure they are using a reputable, safe and qualified practitioner,” he said. Maria Caulfield, the minister for patient safety, said the spread of images online via social media has led to a rise in demand for Botox and fillers and there had been a subsequent increase in people suffering the consequences of badly performed procedures. She said: “While these can be administered safely, we are seeing an unacceptable rise in people being left physically and mentally scarred from poorly performed procedures.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 28 February 2022
  2. News Article
    Hundreds of people who had retinal implants to improve their sight face an uncertain future as the technology they rely on is now obsolete. Second Sight stopped making its Argus II bionic eyes several years ago to focus on a brain implant instead. According to IEEE Spectrum it is now hoping to merge with a biopharmaceutical firm which does not make eye implants. IEEE Spectrum reports that Second Sight actually discontinued its retinal implants - which effectively take the place of photoreceptors in the eye to create a form of artificial vision - in 2019. Patients contacted by IEEE Spectrum voiced concern. One, Ross Doerr, said Second Sight failed to contact any of its patients after its financial difficulties in 2020. "Those of us with this implant are figuratively and literally in the dark," he said. Another user, Jeroen Perk, had problems when his VPU system broke in November 2020. "I had no vision, no Argus, and no support from Second Sight," he said. Elizabeth M Renieris, professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame, in the US, described the development as a cautionary tale. She told the BBC: "This is a prime example of our increasing vulnerability in the face of high-tech, smart and connected devices which are proliferating in the healthcare and biomedical sectors." "These are not like off-the-shelf products or services that we can actually own or control. Instead we are dependent on software upgrades, proprietary methods and parts, and the commercial drivers and success or failure of for-profit ventures." Ethical considerations around such technology should in future include "autonomy, dignity, and accountability", she added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 17 February 2022
  3. News Article
    A woman who died during an operation for a buttock enlargement in Turkey was not given enough information to make a safe decision about the procedure, a coroner has concluded. Melissa Kerr, 31, from Gorleston, Norfolk, died at the private Medicana Haznedar Hospital in Istanbul, in 2019. Ms Kerr had gone abroad to have what is commonly referred to as a Brazilian butt-lift or BBL, the Norwich inquest heard. The inquest was told Brazilian butt-lift operations carried the highest risk of all cosmetic surgery procedures. The UK has an agreed moratorium on carrying out such operations due to the dangers involved, expert witness and plastic surgeon Simon Withey said in a report for the inquest. Mr Withey said if the risk of the procedure had been explained to Ms Kerr before she had financially committed to the procedure she would not "in all probability" have gone through with it. Coroner Jaqueline Lake said she would be writing a report for the health secretary to try and prevent further deaths from this "risky" procedure. She said she was "concerned patients are not being made aware of the risks or the mortality rate associated with such surgery". She added, while the UK government had no control over what happens in other countries, "the danger to citizens who continue to travel abroad for such procedures continues... and I'm of the view future deaths can be prevented by way of better information". Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 September 2023
  4. News Article
    More than a quarter of million people dipped into their savings or took a loan to pay for a private hospital operation or appointment last year — a record high. This year could exceed that. And who can blame them? With the NHS waiting list at a staggering 7.6 million and monthly strikes by doctors lengthening waiting times, patients are increasingly prepared to jump the queue and pay hard cash to do so. In an effort to cut waits and expand choice for patients, Rishi Sunak is funnelling thousands more NHS patients into the private sector. Yet private healthcare is not without risks, many of which are not fully understood. There is a difference between the NHS, which — for all its faults — has been a dependable, free at the point of use health service for more than 75 years, and the sometimes murky world of private doctors and hospital companies who use them. Can you trust your private doctor? When you look under the bonnet of private healthcare, beyond the glossy adverts, things can get a little uncertain. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 10 September 2023
  5. News Article
    A father whose daughter died after travelling to Turkey for weight-loss surgery has urged people to think again before doing the same. Shannon Meenan Browse from Londonderry was 32 when she died in August. The mother-of-four travelled for a gastric sleeve operation 18 months ago but, according to her father, got sick almost straight away. The family were told she died in Altnagelvin Hospital from "malnutrition due to gastric sleeve". A BBC investigation in March found that seven British patients who travelled to Turkey for weight-loss surgery died after operations there, while others returned home with serious health issues. One of the UK's leading bariatric surgeons, Prof David Kerrigan said people are taking a "massive risk" by travelling abroad for weight-loss surgery. In the UK, he said, patients undergo a rigorous preparatory process that includes a psychological assessment and there is "a proper after-care programme". Read full story Source: BBC News, 6 September 2023
  6. News Article
    At the end of the COVID pandemic, more than half (54%) of US children were covered by Medicaid or CHIP; the vast majority by Medicaid. So, the lifting of the pandemic-related Medicaid continuous enrolment protection this spring is a really big deal, putting low-income children at risk of losing access to health care and/or exposing their families to medical debt. In fact, researchers at federal Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) projected that just shy of three-quarters of children losing Medicaid would be disenrolled despite remaining eligible. Children are most at risk of losing coverage during the unwinding despite being eligible and the likelihood that the child uninsured rate will go up if states do not take care in the process. Over half a million children have lost Medicaid already in 21 states where there is data. And that large number doesn’t include Texas, a state that disenrolled more than 500,000 people on June 1st, and where state agency employees recently blew the whistle on systems errors that caused inappropriate terminations. The Biden Administration must take swift and definitive action to pause all terminations in states with systemic problems. Governors who see large numbers of children losing coverage must pause the process. Coverage must be reinstated for those who lose coverage inappropriately. The time for action to protect children is now. Read full story Source: McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, 23 August 2023
  7. News Article
    Covid vaccines should be made available for people to buy privately in Britain, leading scientists have urged, amid concerns over a new wave of the virus which could worsen in autumn and winter. Unlike flu jabs, which individuals or employers can buy for about £15 from high street pharmacies, Covid jabs are only available on the NHS in the UK. This month the UK government announced that the Covid autumn booster programme would cover a smaller pool of the population than earlier vaccination drives. The age limit has been raised from 50 to 65 and above, with some younger vulnerable groups also eligible. Covid is on the rise, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Experts raised concerns the wave could continue to grow and add to winter pressures on the NHS. Prof Adam Finn, of the University of Bristol, a member of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said Covid jabs should be available commercially. Some employers might want to offer the vaccines to their staff, he added. Speaking in a personal capacity, Finn said: “I think it will be a good idea for vaccines to be made available to those that want them on the private market. I don’t really see any reason why that shouldn’t be happening.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 17 August 2023
  8. News Article
    The use of the private sector to tackle the NHS backlog in England is to be expanded, the government says. Ministers say they want to unlock spare capacity to get more people the treatment and operations they need. This includes opening eight privately-run diagnostic centres and using new rules to make it easier for the NHS to purchase care in the private sector. It comes as a record 7.5 million people are waiting for treatment - three million more than before the pandemic. The private sector already carries out hundreds of thousands of treatments and appointments for the NHS every year. But it has said it has the capacity to carry out about 30% more than it is. Read full story Source: BBC News, 4 August 2023
  9. News Article
    The prospect of waiting at least six weeks for a biopsy was too much for Neil Perkin. In February, the 56-year-old was told that he had suspected prostate cancer which needed to be confirmed by examining a sample of his tissue. “After the initial appointment with the consultant, there were no letters, texts or anything,” Perkin said. Instead, he decided to pay for it himself: £5,000 – a substantial sum for the part-time ferry operator. The results from a private hospital in Guildford confirmed the cancer. “I’d lost faith in the NHS by this point and I went private,” he said. “The cancer was spreading and my surgeon made it clear that if I’d waited for the NHS for my prognosis, [the] chances of cancer recurrence would be far worse.” In May he paid another £22,500 for the prostate to be removed at a private hospital in London, with financial help from his family. “I feel let down. It turned out from the pathology that this was urgent and a delay would have made a huge difference to my outcome, my prognosis and quality of life. They got there in the nick of time.” Portsmouth Hospitals University Trust said it was sorry to have been unable to meet Perkin’s expectations and strived to provide quality and timely care. “But we recognise that across the NHS there is an increased demand on services and this can impact patient waiting times.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 30 July 2023
  10. News Article
    Drug companies are systematically funding grassroots patient groups that lobby the NHS medicines watchdog to approve the rollout of their drugs, the Observer has revealed. An investigation by the Observer has found that of 173 drug appraisals conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) since April 2021, 138 involved patient groups that had a financial link to the maker of the drug being assessed, or have since received funding. Often, the financial interests were not clearly disclosed in NICE transparency documents. Many of the groups that received the payments went on to make impassioned pleas to England’s medicines watchdog calling for treatments to be approved for diseases and illnesses including cancer, heart disease, migraine and diabetes. Others made submissions appealing NICE decisions when medicines were refused for being too expensive. In one case, a small heart failure charity that gave evidence to a NICE committee arguing for a drug to be approved received £200,000 from the pharmaceutical company, according to the maker’s spending records. In another case, a cancer patient group supplied evidence relating to drugs made by 10 companies – from nine of which it had received funding. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 July 2023
  11. News Article
    Britain’s health regulator has partly suspended the manufacturing licence of Sciensus, a private company paid millions by the NHS to provide vital medicines, after the death of a cancer patient who was given the wrong dose of chemotherapy. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had taken “immediate” action under regulation 28 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 law “where it appears to the MHRA that in the interests of safety the licence should be suspended”. The MHRA found “significant deficiencies” in standards at Sciensus during an investigation triggered by the death of one patient and the hospitalisation of three others. All four patients were administered “incorrect” doses of an unlicensed version of cabazitaxel, a licensed chemotherapy used to treat prostate cancer, according to people familiar with the matter. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 25 July 2023
  12. News Article
    More than two-thirds of people who are administering cosmetic surgery injections such as Botox in the UK are not qualified medical doctors, a new study suggests. The study is the first survey of who is providing cosmetic injectable services, including botulinum toxin (Botox) and dermal fillers, in the country. Dr David Zargaran, UCL Plastic Surgery, an author of the study, said: “There are well-documented, yet to-date unaddressed challenges in the UK cosmetic injectables market. “Without knowledge of the professional backgrounds of practitioners, we cannot adequately regulate the industry. “Our research highlights that the majority of practitioners are not doctors and include other healthcare professionals, as well as non-healthcare professionals such as beauticians. “The range of backgrounds opens a broader question relating to competence and consent. Read full story Source: The Independent, 24 July 2023
  13. News Article
    The NHS must undergo radical change or it will continue to decline and lose public support, Tony Blair has argued on the service’s 75th anniversary. It must embrace a revolution in technology to reshape its relationship with patients and make much more use of private healthcare providers to cut waiting times, the former Labour prime minister says. The prevalence of chronic health conditions, long waiting times, the NHS’s stretched workforce and tight public finances in the years ahead mean the service must transform how it operates, he said. “The NHS now requires fundamental reform or, eventually, support for it will diminish. As in the 1990s, the NHS must either change or decline,” he writes in the foreword to a new report from his Tony Blair Institute thinktank, which sets out ideas for safeguarding the NHS’s future. He adds: “Change is never easy and requires brave political leadership. If we do not act, the NHS will continue down a path of decline, to the detriment of our people and our economy.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 July 2023
  14. News Article
    An investigation has been launched into BT following the major disruption to 999 call services on Sunday. Emergency services across the country reported 999 calls were failing to connect because of a technical fault. BT, which manages the 999 phone system, apologised for the problems which were resolved by Sunday evening. The communications regulator, Ofcom, will now investigate whether BT failed to comply with its regulatory obligations. In a statement, Ofcom said its rules required BT and other providers to take "all necessary measures to ensure uninterrupted access to emergency organisations as part of any call services offered". While the incident was ongoing Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service warned of a 30-second delay to connect to 999, while Suffolk Police said its system was not working to full capacity. Read full story Source: BBC News, 28 June 2023
  15. News Article
    Millions of patients are being forced to pay for private healthcare amid record NHS waiting lists and are having to cut spending, raid savings or get into debt to fund it, new research reveals. One in 10 (10%) adults in the UK have turned to the private sector or independent healthcare in just the last 12 months, according to a survey commissioned by charity Engage Britain. Of those, almost two-thirds (63%) did so because they faced long delays or could not access treatment on the NHS. The latest NHS England figures show the number of people in England waiting for routine hospital treatments has jumped to a record 6.8 million. Of those who have gone private, almost half (46%) were forced to reduce their spending in other areas, plunder savings they had been keeping for another purpose, or get into financial debt to pay for it. Miriam Levin, health and care programme director at Engage Britain, said: “While the NHS still unites many of us with a feeling of pride, it’s clear more and more people feel forced to turn to private treatment. “As people suffer through months of pain and discomfort after postponed appointments, or waste time and energy chasing up referrals, millions are feeling desperate enough to use savings or get into debt to help us get well again.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 11 September 2022
  16. News Article
    Dee Dickens, 52, from Pontypridd, made the difficult choice to seek private healthcare even though she is ideologically opposed to it. After discovering a lump in her breast she was referred for a scan on the NHS’s two-week rule for suspected cancer. But after waiting six weeks, and being continually being told the waiting time was going up, eventually to a three-month wait, she was forced to pay for her own scan and appointment privately. “In February last year, I found a lump in my breast, and went to the doctor that day. The doctor examined me and said, ‘I don’t like that.’ She said the lump was the size of the top of her index finger and she would rush me through for an urgent screening that would take no longer than two weeks. “Two weeks later, I’d heard nothing so I gave them a call. They said that because of Covid, things had slowed down and it might take four weeks. “A week later, one of my breasts had swelled up. It was itching and hot and it felt like it was infected. I felt unwell, too. But I was stressed to the gills. Every day, I was worried I was going to die. We know that we’re against the clock when it’s cancer. “I went straight back to the doctor and she rang the hospital. They said, ‘We will put your patient right at the top of the waiting list, but it will now be six weeks.’ “At six weeks, I still hadn’t heard anything, so I called the hospital. They said that I was at the top of the list still, but it would now be 10 weeks. The wait was going up because, during the worst of Covid, they hadn’t seen anyone so they were now on catchup." “I’d had enough. Every single day I was more and more worried and my mental health was worse and worse, and my family was having to deal with me crying over stupid things. been talking about going private. But I’d been resistant – we’re both very leftwing and believe passionately in the NHS. However, in the Dee made an appointment with a private clinic. She was seen immediately. “After the scan, the doctor told me that the lumps were glandular tissue. The swelling, the pain and itching – were all stress related. As soon as he said, ‘You’re not going to die,’ they stopped. “The NHS is the only thing I’m truly proud of in the UK. What worries me is I can see it disappearing, if not in my lifetime then in my children’s lifetime. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to go private. It felt absolutely awful to have to make the choice I did. “On the one hand, I knew I would have an answer. But on the other, I knew there were so many women who wouldn’t be able to do what I was doing. I felt guilty, I felt I’d put my own life above my principles." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 11 September 2022
  17. News Article
    A report into the care of three women at a former mental health unit has recommended greater monitoring and scrutiny of private provision. The Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB) review focused on care given to women known as L, M and N, who lived at Milestones Hospital near Norwich. The women, in their 20s, were found to have visited accident and emergency 53 times, mostly due to self-harm. The unit shut down last year and the company that run it has been dissolved. Heather Roach, chair of NSAB, said: "When vulnerable patients are placed in hospitals like Milestones, it's vital that our whole system works together to keep them safe. This review has shown that there are gaps in the monitoring of private provision, particularly when patients are placed in Norfolk from out of our county." Read full story Source: BBC News (25 August 2022)
  18. News Article
    NHS England has revealed plans to crack down on poor care being provided by mental health service providers. There will be a particular focus on independent units treating NHS patients, as just over a quarter of these providers are failing to meet quality standards. Official data shared with HSJ shows that of the 238 independent NHS mental health providers licensed by the Care Quality Commission in England, 174 (73 per cent) are classed as “good” or “outstanding”. The remaining 64 (27 per cent) either “require improvement” or are considered “inadequate”. There have been been national concerns about repeated service failures within the sector. Independent units are often used by NHS trusts for out of area placements – a practice it is trying to end – or to cope with the lack of acute mental health beds. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 11 August 2022
  19. News Article
    The Senate passed a sweeping budget package Sunday intended to bring financial relief to Americans, but not before Republican senators voted to strip a proposal that would have capped the price of insulin at $35 per month for many patients. A proposal that limits the monthly cost of insulin to $35 for Medicare patients was left untouched. But using a parliamentary rule, GOP lawmakers were able to jettison the part of the proposal that would apply to privately insured patients. Lowering the price of drugs such as insulin, which is used by diabetics to manage their blood sugar levels, is broadly popular with voters, polling shows. Senate Democrats denounced Republicans for voting against relief for Americans struggling to pay for the lifesaving drug. More than 30 million Americans have diabetes, and about 7 million require insulin daily to manage their blood sugar levels. The insulin price cap, part of a larger package of proposals to cut prescription drug and other health-care costs, was intended to limit out-of-pocket monthly insulin costs to $35 for most Americans who use insulin. More than 1 in 5 insulin users on private medical insurance pay more than $35 per month for the medicine, according to a recent analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The same analysis found that the median monthly savings for those people would range from $19 to $27, depending on their type of insurance market. A Yale University study found insulin is an “extreme financial burden” for more than 14% of Americans who use it. These people are spending more than 40% of their income after food and housing costs on the medicine. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Washington Post, 8 August 2022
  20. News Article
    A large private provider says it is finding it harder than ever to fill its staffing vacancies, but is optimistic that its investment in nursing apprenticeships and overseas recruitment can help expand NHS-commissioned capacity. In an interview with HSJ, Shelley Thomas, group HR director for Spire Healthcare, said the company is facing the same staffing difficulties as NHS providers. She said: “We’re all feeling the same things at the moment… high sickness absence, high holidays, teams that are worn out. We’re all… experiencing the same from a workforce perspective.” However, she said Spire is “working harder than ever” to fill vacancies, and now has a “really robust pipeline” of apprentices and oversees recruits. Despite the waiting list backlogs which have ballooned since the pandemic began, and a £10bn framework in place for the NHS to utilise private sector capacity, analysis suggests NHS activity undertaken by private hospitals has been below pre-covid levels in almost all specialities. Ms Thomas suggested the staffing difficulties had been a factor in that, but acknowledged there were more conversations to be had locally about how the private sector could undertake more activity. She said the pandemic was a “huge catalyst for stronger working partnerships” between the NHS and the private sector and that relationships are “stronger than they’ve ever been”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 4 August 2022
  21. News Article
    Private and NHS ambulance services are reviewing safety procedures after the Care Quality Commission identified a series of risks to mental health patients being transported by non-emergency providers. The care watchdog wrote to all providers of non-emergency patient transport earlier in the summer, warning of concerns identified at recent inspections about use of restraints, sexual safety, physical health needs, vehicle and equipment safety standards, and unsafe recruitment practices. The letter, seen by HSJ, stated: “We know there are many independent ambulance providers providing a good standard of care. Unfortunately, our recent inspections suggest that this is not always the case." “We expect providers to deliver on their commitment to provide safe, high-quality care and we will do everything within our powers to ensure this happens.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 4 August 2022
  22. News Article
    Long NHS waiting times appear to be pushing people into paying thousands of pounds for private treatment. There were 69,000 self-funded treatments in the UK in the final three months of last year - a 39% rise on the same period before the pandemic. Experts said it was a sign of how desperate people had become. The BBC has seen evidence of people taking out loans and resorting to crowdfunding to pay for private treatment. The figures from the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) do not include those who have private insurance - instead they are the people paying the full cost of treatment themselves, leaving them liable for huge bills. Patient groups warned there was a risk of a two-tier system being created, with the poorest losing out because they were the least likely to be able to afford to pay for treatment. Patient watchdog Healthwatch England said waits for treatment were one of the most common concerns flagged by patients, and warned the situation risked "widening health inequalities". Chief executive Louise Ansari said for most people going private "simply isn't an option", especially with the cost-of-living crisis. "People on the lowest incomes are the most likely to wait the longest for NHS treatment. This leads to a worse impact on their physical health, mental health and ability to work and care for loved ones." Read full story Source: BBC News, 21 July 2022
  23. News Article
    A paediatrician has been struck off for falsely diagnosing children with cancer to scare their parents into paying for expensive private treatment. Dr Mina Chowdhury, 45, caused "undue alarm" to the parents of three young patients - one aged 15 months - by making the "unjustified" diagnoses so his company could cash in by arranging tests and scans, a medical tribunal found. Chowdhury, who worked as a full-time consultant in paediatrics and neonatology at NHS Forth Valley, provided private treatment at his Meras Healthcare clinic in Glasgow. But the clinic made losses, despite "significant" potential income from third-party investigations and referrals for treatment – with patients charged a mark up fee of up to three times the actual cost. In all three cases, Chowdhury gave a false cancer diagnosis, without proper investigation, before recommending “unnecessary and expensive” private tests and treatment in London. Parents previously told the tribunal of their shock and upset at receiving Chowdhury’s diagnoses during consultations between March and August 2017. He told the parents of a 15-month-old girl - known as Patient C - that a lump attached to the bone in her leg was a "soft tissue sarcoma" and a second lump had developed. Chowdhury urged them to see a doctor in London who could arrange an ultrasound scan, a MRI scan and biopsy in a couple of days, saying: "If things are happening it is best to get on top of them early." He also warned that it would be "confusing" to return to the NHS for treatment. But the parents spoke to an A&E doctor and an ultrasound scan revealed that the lumps were likely fat necrosis. Patient C later was discharged after her bloods tests came back as normal. The child’s mother told the tribunal that she and her husband had been "very upset" at Chowdhury’s diagnosis. She was also left "angry" after she later read Dr Chowdhury’s consultation notes and realised they were a "total falsification" of what was discussed. Read full story Source: Medscape, 18 July 2022
  24. News Article
    A cross-party group of MPs and peers have written to the health secretary requesting an “urgent” meeting to discuss “unregulated” and “untested” treatments that are being offered to Long Covid patients in the UK. It comes after The Independent uncovered a wide range of unproven and “dangerous” therapies being touted to patients, few of which have been approved for use in the NHS – or rigorously tested – for alleviating persistent coronavirus symptoms. Patients with Long Covid are also travelling abroad to clinics in Europe to receive treatments such as “blood washing”, often at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds, according to an ITV and BMJ investigation. In a letter to health secretary Steve Barclay, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus expressed concern that patients “desperately” awaiting treatment through the NHS are being exploited by private clinics, and urged the government to launch an investigation into the provision of unproven care. The group wrote: “It has come to the attention of the APPG that a number of unregulated long Covid clinics are operating in the UK, offering untested and unscientific treatments to people living with long Covid. “The evidence our parliamentary group has heard makes it clear that in some parts of the country the current NHS long Covid care pathways are unfit for purpose, with access to NHS long Covid clinics being described as a ‘postcode lottery’.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 14 July 2022
  25. News Article
    The privatisation of NHS care accelerated by Tory policies a decade ago has corresponded with a decline in quality and “significantly increased” rates of death from treatable causes, the first study of its kind says. The hugely controversial shakeup of the health service in England in 2012 by the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, in the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government, forced local health bodies to put contracts for services out to tender. Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash has since been handed to private companies to treat NHS patients, according to the landmark review. It shows the growth in health contracts being tendered to private companies has been associated with a drop in care quality and higher rates of treatable mortality – patient deaths considered avoidable with timely, effective healthcare. The analysis by the University of Oxford has been published in the Lancet Public Health journal. “The privatisation of the NHS in England, through the outsourcing of services to for-profit companies, consistently increased [after 2012],” it says. “Private-sector outsourcing corresponded with significantly increased rates of treatable mortality, potentially as a result of a decline in the quality of healthcare services.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 June 2022
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