Should more NHS hospitals be run privately?
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Should more NHS hospitals be run privately?
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Last year Hinchingbrooke hospital was one of the worst in the country. Now it's been taken over by the private company Circle it is rapidly becoming one of the best - within 6 months their A and E dep
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Forums » Open clinical » General clinical » Should more NHS hospitals be run privately?
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Should more NHS hospitals be run privately?
posted at 2/8/2012 1:03 PM BST
on bmj.com
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*Moderator*
Posts: 682
First: 17/11/2008 Last: 19/5/2013 |
Last year Hinchingbrooke hospital was one of the worst in the country. Now it's been taken over by the private company Circle it is rapidly becoming one of the best - within 6 months their A and E dept is the best in the area. A report in the Telegraph says; "They took over a hospital with £40 million of debt, under a new arrangement that would allow them to take the first £2 million of any profit made. They have started down the line to restoring Hinchingbrooke’s finances by making significant savings – through private sector management practices and better procurement. Ali Parsa points out that on paper supplies alone they have saved £1.6 million. Cleaners have been shifted to clinical areas, rather than offices and residential areas, saving money whilst simultaneously improving hygiene where it matters. This has all been led by making sure that doctors and nurses are in charge of their services- and using Circle’s private sector expertise to equip them with management skills. Even in accident and emergency - an area where private providers have not historically excelled- Circle have managed to lift Hinchingbrooke’s performance to rank with the best in the country. Hinchingbrooke’s A&E department is now rated the best in the Midlands and East of England. "
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Re: Should more NHS hospitals be run privately?
posted at 2/8/2012 5:48 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 876
First: 17/6/2011 Last: 22/5/2013 |
I think that anything that improves care has got to be a good thing but the issue for me is the profit - if the public purse provides the funds then this should be reinvested in services - if you like the 'private' aspect is a fixed fee. sadian |
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Re: Should more NHS hospitals be run privately?
posted at 2/8/2012 10:03 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 145
First: 14/5/2012 Last: 22/5/2013 |
Private hospitals should be run with private money only. Private hospitals getting hooked and getting high on NHS money is like an expensive extension of the welfare state for the wealthy. This remains a core failing of private healthcare in the UK. I am not against private healthcare. The question of course is about NHS hospitals run by private entities. Circle's health seems not so rosy, they are in 27 million losses http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/05/questions-grow-over-circle-health Today's media blitz might be in prep for more fundraising or some other sort of lobbying. If they were in profits, then the profits generated by public money will go into the pockets of private shareholders, quite rightly. In NHS any surplus (and there have been some hospitals who have been in surplus in the past, is ploughed back into the NHS in some manner. NHS and private are better off being completely separate. Mixing them would be toxic as seen in some of the PFI projects. |
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Re: Should more NHS hospitals be run privately?
posted at 3/8/2012 8:47 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2948
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 23/5/2013 |
I work in a private not-for profit hospital run by the Uniting Church (formerly Presbyterian, Methodist and Congretational Church). We have an emergency department which is well run, three medical schools with medical students we teach, have an ICU, CCU, radiotherapy, oncology, obstets CT PET etc etc etc and a research institute. I have written stacks more papers in private practice than in 20 years in public medicine. All profits are turned back into the hospital. I would never work in a public hospital again. All my tuition is done on an honorary basis ie pro bono. There is another way. |
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Re: Should more NHS hospitals be run privately?
posted at 5/8/2012 9:59 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2049
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 22/5/2013 |
But luisad, the Telegraph would say that, wouldn't they? What is the evidence that the Hinchinbrooke has the best A&E in the county? In my own Trust, cleaning services were withdrawn from non-clinical areas, with the result that secretaries felt obliged, bless them, to get out the vacuum cleaners, until the consultants protested that this was not what a trained medical secretary was paid or had time to do. Then again, Central will no doubt look on this project as a 'loss-leader'; one that they can afford to make no profit on, in the expectation of more lucrative ones later. Commercial company must pay its shareholders a dividend on their investment. The NHS is supposed to make 6% savings every year, which may be considered a 'dividend' on behalf of the taxpayer, but that return woud be trivial in commerce. Odysseus is right - "all profits are turned back to the hospital" should be the mantra fof healthcare, and shareholders should be shunned. John |
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