More than 20 radiographers, radiology assistants and associated support staff, members of the GMB employed by Frimley Health have opted to suspend action following their 100% ballot vote to strike. … Read more
diagnostics
The Guardian reports that Rishi Sunak is facing questions over a possible conflict of interest after it emerged that a private healthcare firm handed a government contract to reduce regional … Read more
A barrage of publicity surrounded the publication last week of the long-awaited report of Rishi Sunak’s 17-strong “taskforce” on elective recovery, which was set up last December. There was no … Read more
The BBC reports that ministers want to unlock spare capacity to get more people the treatment and operations they need. This includes opening eight privately-run diagnostic centres and using new … Read more
The Guardian reports that patients who face long NHS waiting lists and cannot afford to go private are being encouraged to sign up for “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) deals … Read more
HSJ reports that NHS England is assessing the viability of establishing an NHS-owned consortium to bring some of the diagnostic work currently being done for profit in the private sector … Read more
Somerset Foundation Trust has partnered with Alliance Medical for its Taunton Diagnostic Centre. The previous private partner, Rutherford Health, went into liquidation in June 2022. The centre only opened in … Read more
Tory MP Dr Liam Fox received a £20,000 donation earlier this year from the Covid-19 testing company, SureScreen Diagnostics, that he reportedly contacted the former health secretary over. According to … Read more
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has said that ministers and government officials played “fast and loose” when awarding £777m in Covid contracts to a healthcare firm that … Read more
The former health secretary Matt Hancock was given an overnight stay at a country estate owned by the head of Randox, the healthcare firm that had hired the MP Owen Paterson as a … Read more
Independent providers are receiving substantial public funds to help shift the backlog in diagnostics, amidst fears of long term arrangements NHS radiology staff are understaffed by 33% and equipment is … Read more
Alun Cairns, a former Welsh secretary, took a £15,000-a-year job at a diagnostics company a few weeks before it was part of a consortium that secured a £75 million government … Read more
Immensa, a private laboratory in Wolverhampton that is under investigation for potentially issuing more than 40,000 false negative Covid tests, was not fully accredited to perform the work, contrary to … Read more
Dr Ashraf Chohan, founder and chair of Conservative Friends of the NHS, which aims to forge ties between politicians and healthcare workers in the private and public sectors, and his son … Read more
Two contracts for contact tracers with Serco and Sitel have been extended by six months by the Department of Health and Social Care for an additional cost of £168m. Serco … Read more
A total, constipated silence from the NHS and ministers shrouds the long-delayed new “mega lab” that was supposed to have opened in Leamington Spa last January as part of the … Read more
A report by a local council in the North East of England has found that failures in England’s Test and Trace system are partly responsible for a surge in the … Read more
Guidance recently issued by NHS England could lead to entire networks of diagnostic imaging services being run by the private sector. NHS trusts have until 2023 to set up separate entities to … Read more
A response from the Department of Health and Social Care to local MP Matt Western has insisted that the new Leamington Spa “mega-lab” is “publicly owned and operated,” despite staff being recruited … 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
