Privatisation threat to NHS

In the failing UK, the NHS is the last great thing of public value, yet we are watching it bleed to death at government hands.

The Tories have made no secret of their desire to privatise the whole thing, but Scots need to wake up to English Labour’s plans. It won’t inject needed cash or undo the disastrous PFI schemes engineered under Blair.

Instead, Starmer and Streeting will hand over what remains of a once great public service to for-profit companies. As with any public service privatisation, the public ends up paying more for less. It’s a giant con.

Private agencies are overcharging the English NHS to supply NHS-trained doctors and nurses. One agency targets NHS hospitals experiencing nursing shortages and charges nearly £2k per shift for a freelance nurse. It takes a hefty £800 cut. The English NHS paid £3.5 billion for agency staff last year.

Private firms cherry-pick patients who are generally healthy for routine operations like cataracts. If a case becomes complicated, they bounce the patient back to the NHS. This lets them cram in more operations and make more money, leaving the NHS to shoulder the cost. They also cherry-pick NHS staff because they can offer more money. The NHS doesn’t allow pension contributions if staff take on work beyond their full-time hours, so it loses the simple operations while paying staff less for the more difficult ones.

Wes Streeting vowed to wage war on hospital health unions and rejected nurses’ pay demands. The Labour front bench has taken £650k from private health interests, 25 per cent more than the Tories.

English Labour will be under intense pressure to deliver what remains of the NHS to their donors. Scotland’s health service is a prime target. Another excellent reason to end the union.

Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh

The Labour front bench has taken £650k from private health interests, more than the Tories – they’ll be under pressure to deliver to their donors