The NHS is (and has been for such a long time) suffering budgetary constraints, but now we know where a slice of that shortfall is going: In two years private health providers made £1.6bn in profits from their work in the NHS.

[chrismayla6@zirk.us]

The NHS is (and has been for such a long time) suffering budgetary constraints, but now we know where a slice of that shortfall is going: In two years private health providers made £1.6bn in profits from their work in the NHS.

Supporters of private provision will claim that money is a reward for extra productivity & efficiency; more realistically we know these firms are cherry-picking treatments & transferring patients back to the NHS when problems arise.

#NHS #health

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/apr/13/private-companies-nhs-services-profit-chpi-research

[angusjordan@mastodon.green]

@ChrisMayLA6 interesting article form @pluralistic today Austerity creates fascism https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2026-04-13-always-great-our-nhs-f612bbaa0d4a

[atm0spheric@mastodon.social]

@angusjordan @ChrisMayLA6 @pluralistic

The merry-go-round of referrals from one queue to another for chronic conditions looks like a symptom of privatisation. It is the most profitable way of keeping an unmet need for palliative care in the revenue stream. The policy of paying third party suppliers per process is a profit seeker's dream.

The NHS should be an organisation paid to minimise the need for its services. It can only be provided as a public service for the common good.

[chrismayla6@zirk.us]

@atm0spheric @angusjordan @pluralistic

Agreed; prevention is the key with public heath.... but as so often in a system with budget entrants, the money flows to immediate need - limits to finding prevention are a false economy

[billysmith@social.coop]

@ChrisMayLA6

Every time private surgery is performed, they have an ambulance on standby to take them to an NHS hospital if things go wrong.

[annehargreaves@ioc.exchange]

@ChrisMayLA6 Shocking - not surprising.

[rightsprung@c.im]

@ChrisMayLA6

Exactly what is happening in Ontario and other Conservative led provinces in Canada. It's like they all govern from the same playbook.

[capnthommo@c.im]

@ChrisMayLA6 absolutely. Cherry pick the easy profitable cases. Throw the rest to the NHS, and when something goes wrong throw that one to the NHS too for any remedial work. The NHS thus becomes victim of a triple tap. Oh, and also has to train the staff used by the private sector as well.

[john234@mastodon.social]

@ChrisMayLA6 currently, the government isn't able to balance (tax receipts >= spending) the budget. The shortfall is made up by selling gilts on the bond markets. The yield (interest rate) for a 10 year government bond is ~5%. Somebody is always making a profit.
However, the one positive from this is that a lot of gilts are bought by UK pension funds (so at least some of that money is going towards UK pensions rather than anonymous American health megacorps).