THE NHS Support Federation yesterday revealed that almost 70% of contracts for NHS services in England between April-December 2013 were awarded to private companies.
THE NHS privatisation reforms mean ‘qualified providers’ can be chosen to provide clinical services.
The NHS Support Federation, which opposes a competitive market in the NHS, said that out of 57 contracts awarded, 39 went to private firms.
The Federation said 15 of the 57 contracts went to the NHS, two went to charities and one was shared between the NHS and a non-NHS supplier.
They cover everything from mental health services, GP and out-of-hours services and diagnostics such as blood tests, X-rays and scans.
Contracts worth a total of £5bn were advertised between April-December 2013. Of those, contracts worth £510m were actually awarded in that time with £450m worth awarded to non-NHS suppliers.
The figures come from an analysis of competitive tender notices on the European public procurement website, compiled by the federation.
The Federation statement said: ‘I think people are going to be genuinely surprised by what’s happening.
‘The scope of this change means that it is affecting all kinds of care that you might experience as a patient, everything from your first visit to the GP, diagnostic tests, treatment in hospital and care further on from that.
‘We’re talking about the whole gamut of care and a massive change in the way we use services in the future.’
Much of what is called primary care – GPs, dentists and pharmacists for example – is already run by private businesses on behalf of the health service.
A minority of hospital services – about 5% – were already delivered by the private sector before the coalition government’s reforms but the NHS Support Federation says it is now taking a bigger stake.
Dr Jacky Davis of Keep Our NHS Public commented: ‘This isn’t privatisation by the back door, it’s privatisation by the front door, and it is really putting patients’ lives at risk.’
