The Guardian reports that there are concerns that long NHS waiting times caused by the coronavirus crisis are exacerbating pre-existing health inequalities and creating a “two-tier” system, as more people turn to … Read more
Leaked emails and texts seen by The Lowdown and other news sites have revealed moves to bolster the clinical tier of the government’s contact-tracing programme with untrained staff from outsourcing … Read more
It appears nothing succeeds more than failure. Serco, one of the two corporations with key contracts to deliver the shambolic UK “test and trace” system has picked up another extension … Read more
Lowdown readers may remember that the SE London Integrated Care System (‘Our Healthier South East London’ – OHSEL) has been overseeing the drawing up of a huge pathology network contract … Read more
The HSJ has reported that a contract published by the Department of Health and Social Care showed that it had hired the management consultancy McKinsey to work on a significant NHS technology … Read more
Boris Johnson and his chief scientific adviser have admitted to failings in England’s £12bn test-and-trace system as contact-tracing fell to a new low and waiting times for test results soared … Read more
An investigation by The Times has found that medical companies have charged the NHS inflated prices for ventilators. The government paid Excalibur Healthcare Services £135 million to supply 2,700 ventilators, … Read more
A series of contract awards, which total £1.6 bn, published for the first time shows that Circle Health and Spire Healthcare were handed the largest contracts to provide extra staff … Read more
HSJ reports that private hospital providers have been asked to apply to a new procurement framework worth up to £10bn, from which NHS organisations will purchase additional capacity for up to … Read more
Sky News has reported that the government is paying individual private sector consultants million-pound wages to work on its test and trace system. Some executives from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) … Read more
The FT reports that the UK government has awarded £10bn worth of contracts related to the coronavirus crisis to private companies since March, mostly without a competitive tender. The research … Read more
MPs have launched legal action over the government’s failure to disclose details of its spending on contracts related to the pandemic, as it emerged that it has failed to account … Read more
On 1 October 2020, NHS England passed its budget for specialist mental health services to 10 groups of providers across England, but plans show that even after changes, there will be a … Read more
Sky News reports that more than 1,000 consultants from Deloitte are now working on Test and Trace, according to documents released by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) … Read more
In a crisis we need quick thinking and resourcefulness. There’s no time to explain decisions. That’s the justification for the government by-passing scrutiny and transparency, but revelations about dubious deals … Read more
Almost three in four people think failing private contractors Serco and Sitel should be booted out of their role running so-called “NHS Test and Trace” according to a Survation poll, as … Read more
Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has revealed that an independent review is taking place to see if delays to treatment for thousands of patients using services run by DMC … Read more
The Times reports that Sir Simon Stevens, head of the NHS, has criticised the pharmaceutical company Essential Pharma for “using the cover of coronavirus to try to price-gouge British taxpayers”. … Read more
This article gives an overview of the failures that have taken place when non-NHS organisations (private and not-for-profit) have been awarded contracts to run NHS services. Failures have taken place … Read more
The private company, Cygnet Healthcare, that ran an NHS learning disability hospital hit by revelations of staff abuse of vulnerable patients had been under scrutiny from the authorities over safety and safeguarding … Read more
