The evidence of a massive increase in people in need of help from mental health services in the UK is now incontrovertible. NHS England reports 1.4 million people on the … Read more
hospitals
Health secretary Sajid Javid’s decision last week to force through another ‘surge capacity’ deal with independent providers, to protect the health service from being overwhelmed by the Omicron variant, has … Read more
Almost identical reports in the (£) Times and Daily Mail that Sajid Javid “is planning to set up academy style hospitals,” potentially run by the private sector (coyly described as “outside sponsors”), are clearly much more … Read more
The BMA has criticised the government for striking a costly agreement by NHS England to block book private hospital beds in case they are required for NHS patients in the … Read more
Adult wards at St Andrew’s Healthcare, a major independent mental health provider, has been criticised by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission, after an inspection at a facility in Northampton. The provider … Read more
The Care Quality Commission has forbidden two private hospitals from admitting patients without permission from regulators, after inspectors reported multiple instances of poor care, including patients being pushed and laughed … Read more
Mental health services are very unlikely to see any of the £15 billion in funding announced by the government in the first week of September, according to sources reported in the HSJ, … Read more
Spire Healthcare, Britain’s second-largest private hospital operator, as seen its profits rise as a result of a surge in patients choosing to pay for hip and knee operations, as the … Read more
Cygnet Health Care has been repeatedly criticised by regulators and has now had its leadership at one hospital described as “ineffective”. The company received an urgent enforcement notice from the … 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
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 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
An exultant article from the grinning director of the Independent Healthcare Provider Network (IHPN) David Furness in the October issue of Healthcare Markets magazine reminds readers that the dire situation of the NHS has … 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
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 latest available NHS England figures (September 3) show that of available beds open overnight, an undifferentiated 110,000 beds of all types (general and acute, mental health, maternity, Learning Difficulties) were … Read more
The story of Ian Paterson the rogue breast cancer surgeon who was allowed free reign to ruin thousands of lives over 17 years is now quite well known. You can … Read more
Over £1 million has been spent so far on developing a Business Case for centralising pathology services in Lancashire covering four NHS trusts, according to information released under the Freedom … Read more
When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the NHS was unprepared due to its “heavily privatised, convoluted, and fundamentally dysfunctional system” of product supply, in particular of personal protective equipment (PPE), according … Read more
A patient safety inquiry has been launched after the IT company, Cerner, a private contractor, failed to send more than 28,000 pieces of confidential medical correspondence to GPs, according to the … Read more
