News OnTheWight always welcomes a Letter to the Editor to share with our readers – unsurprisingly they don’t always reflect the views of this publication. If you have something you’d like to share, get in touch and of course, your considered comments are welcome below.
This from Maggie Nelmes, Ventnor. Ed
Did you know that the NHS has 7,452 outsourcing contracts with private companies? Or that private companies stand to make £1 billion in profits from their current outsourcing contracts, which goes straight into their shareholders’ pockets? Just think what the NHS could do with that £1 billion.
How can a government take privately-run services back into public ownership? Wait for the contracts to expire, one by one over the next few years, and don’t renew them.
Contracts set to expire during the next parliament
Campaign group We Own It’s analysis of NHS contracts “reveals that 94% of current outsourcing contracts for services between private/for-profit companies and the NHS, at national, regional and local levels, are set to expire during the next parliament.”
The results of this new research have just been published in the Mirror and Big Issue magazine.
Fry: A historic opportunity to reverse NHS privatisation
As Stephen Fry comments in The Mirror,
“[A]fter 14 years of the worst outsourcing in the entire history of the NHS, Labour has a historic opportunity to reverse NHS privatisation.”
Commitment to the railways
In April, Labour announced that, if they win the General Election, they will take our railways back into public ownership, by not tendering rail contracts when they expire in Labour’s first term in government.
“This is a brilliant policy that Labour can implement in the NHS as well”, says We Own it.
Streeting: We are paying over the odds for some services
In March last year, Wes Streeting, Shadow Health Secretary, told the New Statesman,
“Rachel Reeves talks a lot about radical insourcing and I’d like to see some of that because I think we are paying over the odds for some services, including in the NHS.”
A strong case for a fully publicly delivered NHS
And the National Policy Forum document endorsed by the Labour Conference last year made a strong case for a fully publicly delivered NHS, saying,
“Direct public provision embeds a public service ethos, efficiency, resilience and democratic accountability into the heart of the NHS.”
Short on detail
But so far, Wes Streeting has not provided any details as to how he will end NHS outsourcing if he becomes Health Secretary.
According to recent polls, 7 in 10 voters, including a majority of Conservative voters, back our NHS being fully publicly funded and provided.
Fry: Labour has a big opportunity
As Stephen Fry comments,
“Labour has a big opportunity to bring the country together with a commitment to protect our NHS from private influence so that it continues to be here for future generations.”
Sign the letter
Please sign We Own It’s letter to Wes Streeting, demanding that he commit to ending NHS outsourcing:
