A high court judge has ruled that the health secretary, Matt Hancock, acted unlawfully by failing to publish multibillion-pound Covid-19 government contracts within the 30-day period required by law. The judge, … Read more
Transparency in public office is essential to any democracy, but the UK government’s aversion to scrutiny of its procurement track record during the pandemic – an aversion now the focus … Read more
A leaked version of the new NHS White Paper has confirmed the government’s plan to remove the much criticised competition rules, which allow commercial companies to bid for a vast array of … Read more
Operose Health Ltd, the UK arm of the large US healthcare insurance provider Centene Corporation, is to take over AT Medics, one of the leading providers of primary care services … Read more
According to the HSJ NHS England has invoked a ‘surge’ clause in its Covid contracts with private hospitals and given six private hospitals in London a week’s notice that their entire capacity … Read more
MPs have rejected key amendments to the Trade Bill made by the House of Lords that campaigners say would offer important protection to the NHS. At the same time MPs … Read more
The Times reports that Andrew Mills, a former government adviser who brokered the bungled £250 million PPE contract with Ayanda Capital, has used an obscure change in company status to … Read more
The government’s test and trace system run by Tory peer Dido Harding is paying nearly a million pounds every day to the private consultancy firm Deloitte. David Williams, the department of … Read more
Claims by Matt Hancock, Simon Stevens and other senior figures from NHS England that the private hospital sector should be regarded as a permanent “partner” of the NHS after the block booking … Read more
The professional body representing laboratory staff, the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS), has expressed concerns over the plans – revealed to trade unions by Dido Harding – for the first of … Read more
The Guardian reveals that PPE Medpro, a company with mystery investors and links to the Isle of Man, was awarded government contracts worth £200m to supply the UK with personal … Read more
The New York Times analysis of the British government’s spending on PPE, ventilators, coronavirus tests and other supplies critical to containing the surge in virus infections, has found that the … Read more
The British logistics company, Uniserve, was awarded Covid-19-related contracts worth around £800m in 2020, all of which were awarded without an open tender. This makes the company the largest recipient … Read more
A Guardian investigation has found that England’s test and trace service is being sub-contracted to a myriad of private companies employing inexperienced contact tracers under pressure to meet targets. Serco, … Read more
Almost 11,000 patients at a GP practice in central Nottingham, many of them vulnerable, face disruption to their services and potential reductions in care as Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG/ICS imposes … Read more
The extent to which NHS England now sees the future in a permanent alliance with private hospital chains was underlined in October by NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens taking time … Read more
The government has refused to publish a list of companies that benefited from being put in the ‘high-priority’ lane for Covid-19 contract work. It has also refused to reveal who … Read more
The National Audit Office (NAO) has investigated the process surrounding the awarding of contracts for services and supplies related to the Covid-19 pandemic. In November 2020, the NAO published two … Read more
The Guardian reports that the government’s £22bn test-and-trace system has failed to reach more than 100,000 people exposed to coronavirus in England’s worst-hit areas since the second wave began with … Read more
A report from the National Audit Office (NAO) has found that the government spent £10bn more buying personal protective equipment in “chaotic” and inflated market conditions during the pandemic than … Read more
