Bill soars for NHS work by private firms
THE amount of money health boards pay private companies to carry out NHS work has dramatically increased since the start of the decade, it has been revealed.
Annual accounts from each of Wales’ seven health boards show that £38.5m was spent on outsourcing to private sector healthcare providers in 2017-18.
That was a 260% rise compared with the £13.8m spent in 2010-11, but a slight decrease on the £39.1m recorded in 2016-17.
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (UHB) spent the most on private companies in 2017-18 (£12.7m) followed by Cwm Taf UHB (£7.7m) and Hywel Dda UHB (£6.4m).
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price, speaking in the Senedd on Tuesday, criticised the Welsh Government for having a “policy of privatisation”.
Addressing the leader of the house, Labour’s Julie James AM, he said: “Isn’t this a policy of privatisation by stealth as a sticking plaster to mask long-term structural problems within the Welsh NHS?
“The policy of the Welsh Government when Carwyn Jones first became First Minister was to phase out the use of the private sector completely by 2011 but spending on use of the private sector has gone up substantially.”
While Ms James strongly denied that the Welsh Government was operating privatisation by stealth, she admitted that private sector providers were used in the short term.
She said: “We have to arrange for services to be delivered in the best possible fashion. Where possible we deliver it by public sector free at the point of delivery, but clearly there are some instances where we have to use private sector providers in the short term in order to make sure the service is delivered.
“There is clearly not a route to fullscale privatisation. We are training the largest numbers of staff we can into the 2010-11 .................................................. £173,000 2015-16 .............................................. £1,416,000 2016-17 .............................................. £5,177,000 2017-18 .............................................. £2,970,000
2010-11 .................................................. £238,000 2015-16 .............................................. £1,827,000 2016-17 .............................................. £1,793,000 2017-18 .............................................. £1,164,000
2010-11 .............................................. £2,677,000 2015-16 .............................................. £4,044,000 2016-17 .............................................. £4,448,000 2017-18 .............................................. £6,430,000
2010-11 .................................................. £232,000 2015-16 .............................................. £5,562,000 2016-17 .............................................. £8,155,000 2017-18 .............................................. £5,364,000
2010-11 .............................................. £3,280,000 2015-16 .............................................. £4,661,000 2016-17 .............................................. £3,426,000 2017-18 .............................................. £7,667,000
2010-11 .............................................. £6,253,000 2015-16 .............................................. £9,314,000 2016-17 .............................................. £9,121,000 2017-18 ............................................ £12,654,000
2010-11 .................................................. £940,000 2015-16 .............................................. £3,258,000 2016-17 .............................................. £6,935,000 2017-18 .............................................. £2,229,000
2010-11 ............................................ £13,793,000 2015-16 ............................................ £30,082,000 2016-17 ............................................ £39,055,000 2017-18 ............................................ £38,478,000
biggest number of training places we have ever had.”
Helen Whyley, interim director of the Royal College of Nursing in Wales, said NHS outsourcing to private companies was sometimes necessary.
But she said: “RCN Wales members expect to see due diligence by health boards and trusts to ensure they are getting the best value for money with their contracts in the private sector.”