New map lays out ‘enormous’ privatisation of NHS services

A NEW map showing the “enormous number” of NHS services that have been privatised and outsourced across the UK is set to be published.

Compiled by the medic-led campaign group EveryDoctor, which pushes for an improved, public NHS, the map can be used as a tool by voters looking to challenge their local MPs in an election year.

EveryDoctor pointed to a University of Oxford analysis, from 2022, which links NHS privatisation to avoidable patient deaths.

According to the peerreviewed study, outsourcing to for-profit companies consistently increased between 2013 and 2020, corresponding “with significantly increased rates of treatable mortality, potentially as a result of a decline in the quality of healthcare services”.

The group also highlighted research published in the Lancet Medical Journal last month, which concluded: “Healthcare privatisation has almost never had a positive effect on the quality of care.”

GP and EveryDoctor team member Dr Emily Ball said: “NHS outsourcing causes public money to be funnelled out into private companies, some of which are major corporations looking to enrich their shareholders. We need to invest in the NHS and make sure that money goes to delivering excellent, well-staffed services.”

The concerns come after Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, reiterated his plans to introduce much more use of private resources in the NHS. On Sunday, The National reported how Streeting had taken around £175,000 from donors linked to private health firms since January 2023.

EveryDoctor chief executive Dr Julia Patterson said: “NHS privatisation introduces a profit motive into the delivery of healthcare, and that’s bad for everyone apart from company shareholders.”

Find the map: privatisation. everydoctor.org.uk