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| Call time on the failed NHS privatisation experiment | Call time on the failed NHS privatisation experiment |
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| NHS privatisation in England has increased dramatically since the Health and Social Care Act was passed in 2012. The most recent official figures show that in 2013-14 the NHS paid £6.6bn to private healthcare firms – the equivalent of £18m a day. But despite this huge outlay, there is still no evidence that the private sector is any better, more efficient or cost effective. | NHS privatisation in England has increased dramatically since the Health and Social Care Act was passed in 2012. The most recent official figures show that in 2013-14 the NHS paid £6.6bn to private healthcare firms – the equivalent of £18m a day. But despite this huge outlay, there is still no evidence that the private sector is any better, more efficient or cost effective. |
| Indeed, there have been some spectacular contract failures – Circle at Hinchingbrooke hospital, Serco with Suffolk’s community services, and Arriva and the North West Ambulance Service to name but a few. | Indeed, there have been some spectacular contract failures – Circle at Hinchingbrooke hospital, Serco with Suffolk’s community services, and Arriva and the North West Ambulance Service to name but a few. |
| Related: Time is running out to save our chronically underfunded NHS | Letters | |
| With more demands on the NHS, the health service needs stability, and its increasingly stretched health workers need security. They don’t need to be worrying about their pay or their pension being eroded by private equity speculators, or indeed whether they’ll still have a job if the contract fails. | With more demands on the NHS, the health service needs stability, and its increasingly stretched health workers need security. They don’t need to be worrying about their pay or their pension being eroded by private equity speculators, or indeed whether they’ll still have a job if the contract fails. |
| We also have the disturbing situation where many of the 200-plus bodies in England that plan, source and oversee healthcare in their local areas are seeking advice from the very organisations that stand to profit hugely from outsourcing. It’s hardly surprising that these clinical commissioning groups are increasingly awarding contracts outside the NHS. | We also have the disturbing situation where many of the 200-plus bodies in England that plan, source and oversee healthcare in their local areas are seeking advice from the very organisations that stand to profit hugely from outsourcing. It’s hardly surprising that these clinical commissioning groups are increasingly awarding contracts outside the NHS. |
| Some of these companies are the offshoots of US multinationals, and there is a real danger that if we continue down this road we could end up with a repeat of the American experience where income, rather than need, dictates the level of care that a patient can expect. | |
| Resources are scarce and this surge in privatisation is a huge waste of public money. The billions spent creating the internal market, in which private firms are thriving, could have gone on patient care. | |
| And every time a contract collapses, it’s taxpayers who have to step in and pick up the tab. As the representatives of more than a million NHS employees, we urge the government to call time on its failed privatisation experiment.Dave Prentis General secretary, Unison Len McCluskey General secretary, Unite Tim Roache General secretary elect, GMB Professor Cathy Warwick Chief executive, Royal College of Midwives Warren Town Director of industrial strategy, Society of Radiographers Professor Karen Middleton Chief executive, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Andy Burman General secretary, the British Dietetic Association Rowena McNamara Chair, British Orthoptic Trade Union Eddie Saville General secretary, Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association | And every time a contract collapses, it’s taxpayers who have to step in and pick up the tab. As the representatives of more than a million NHS employees, we urge the government to call time on its failed privatisation experiment.Dave Prentis General secretary, Unison Len McCluskey General secretary, Unite Tim Roache General secretary elect, GMB Professor Cathy Warwick Chief executive, Royal College of Midwives Warren Town Director of industrial strategy, Society of Radiographers Professor Karen Middleton Chief executive, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Andy Burman General secretary, the British Dietetic Association Rowena McNamara Chair, British Orthoptic Trade Union Eddie Saville General secretary, Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association |
| • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com |