£14bn cost of private NHS
Published: 30 April, 2010
by TOM FOOT
CUTTING ties with private companies would save the NHS billions and plug a massive shortfall in funding that is threatening thousands of local jobs, a government report has found.
The Health Select Committee found the cost of the “purchaser/ provider split” – a competitive market system first introduced into the NHS by the Conservatives in 1990 – was costing the NHS up to £14billion each year.
Thousands of jobs are at risk in Islington and the Whittington Hospital has faced the threat of closure because of a £20billion funding shortfall nationally over the next three years.
The Commons report was highly critical of the Department of Health (DoH) for failing to provide information during their inquiry. It states: “The suspicion must remain that the DoH does not want the full story to be revealed. After 20 years of costly failure, the purchaser/provider split may need to be abolished.”
In an article in today’s Tribune , Wendy Savage, one of the founding members of Keep Our NHS Public, said: “The encouragement to the private sector to compete with NHS hospitals and GPs should stop at once. Sadly, the only party which would behave in this way is the Green Party.
“Why, in the face of the evidence that a market in healthcare is inappropriate, do all the parties endorse the use of the public sector? No cuts would be necessary as the resultant savings would be enough to fund the necessary improvements.”