How did a privatised hospital now rated the worst for caring in England, persuade so many journalists and politicians to hail it as a 'miracle'? Alex Nunns takes a satirical look.
Shocking examples of poor care are the real reason Circle withdrew from running Hinchingbrooke Hospital - they've got their eyes on easier ways to privatise the NHS, anyway.
More hospitals - potentially all of them - will be run outside the NHS as so-called "mutuals", the government announced this week. Nine have already set out down this path but who really benefits from "mutualisation"?
Hospital inspectors have written to the first 'franchised' NHS hospital warning them of serious concerns. And up the road, the NHS has won the largest single service tender yet - but only after having to waste a million pounds fighting off the private sector.
The first privatised NHS hospital, Circle Hinchingbrooke, is lauded as 'partnership' future by influential figures - but financial instability, deeply unhappy staff, and poor care are highlighted in a new report - and in a damning letter from the regulator today.
So-called 'John Lewis style mutuals' have been tried in the NHS - and flopped badly. So they want to give this Trojan horse for privatisation and asset-stripping new legs - and teeth.
All the big beasts of NHS privatisation are hoping to get their hands on older people's NHS services - though some are employing more innovative methods than others.
Tax avoidance and high interest costs are diverting resources away from healthcare.
More than one in four Conservative peers - 62 out of the total of 216 - and many other members of the House of Lords have a direct financial interest in the radical re-shaping of the NHS that is perilously close to being enacted. These peers have been able to vote on the crucial divisions that wil
In the new competitive market for healthcare created by the Health and Social Care Bill it will become increasingly difficult to know what exactly is being done with public money.
The coalition's misrepresentation of the mutual model is mere spin in aid of ‘Trojan horse privatisation’. It not only enables private sector entry into healthcare via the back door but also endangers real co-operatives and mutuals.
