More privatisation not ‘cure’ for crisis-hit NHS

ALL my suspicions about the Government withholding funding from the NHS with the intention of causing a collapse, to sneak in more privatisation as a ‘cure’ to the crisis, have unfortunately been confirmed by Anne Milton.

The wife of the director of Virgin Healthcare being made the new Health Secretary? Conflict of interest, surely? The NHS is envied around the world. We can’t let it slip away into the greedy hands of a corporation. Just look at rail, housing and utilities to see how, potentially, our healthcare could become unaffordable and just another money-making racket for billionaires.

And the reason I say ‘more privatisation’ is because it is already under way, as Virgin Healthcare has 400 NHS contract, worth £1bn — a company which pays no tax in the UK, as it is based in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands.

So, not only are some of your National Insurance payments going to line Richard Branson & Co’s pockets, without any of it going back into the economy as tax, but also Virgin Healthcare sued the NHS in 2016, as it lost out on an £82m contract and won — costing the NHS a further £328,000 at least. This is the group the Government chooses to grant private contracts to: a tax-dodging, NHS-suing, multi-billion pound corporation. Disgusting.

ANDRENA McBREARTY By email