Private sector to pocket £23 billion of NHS money in profits over next thirty years

A report warns that the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) hospital building scheme will mean big profits for private firms but fewer NHS beds in future for patients.

The Keep Our NHS Public campaign, which calculated the long-term cost, accuses the Government of carrying out 'patchwork privatisation' of the NHS in a report released.

It says PFI has been embraced by the Government, with a package of schemes underway at a total cost of £6.5 billion.

But the total financial cost will be far higher and the policy also means the continuing loss of NHS beds, as PFI hospitals tend to have less provision than the hospitals they replace.

'Unlike the Thatcher privatisations of the 1980s, the whole NHS is not being put up for auction' says the report.

'Instead, it is being parcelled up into bite-sized pieces and handed over to private control bit by bit.

'This is happening on such a scale and at such pace as to make it a unique phenomenon.'

The report says for the first time newly completed mainstream NHS hospitals have begun to be owned and run by private firms for profit - with the longterm additional cost borne by the taxpayer.

Alex Nunns, of Keep Our NHS Public, said "Unbeknown to the public the NHS is paying astronomical sums of money to the private sector.

"When the NHS is making cuts and closures across the country it's time to ask if this is the best use of public money.

"The Government's greatest achievement has been to push through the biggest change in the history of the NHS - under the radar and without a public mandate.

"It's time for an open debate about whether people want the patchwork privatisation of their health service."

The report argued that the Government is 'transforming the NHS from a comprehensive, equitable provider of healthcare into a tax-funded insurer, paying for care provided by others'.

It added 'What emerges will still be called the NHS, but it will take the form of a kite-mark attached to selected services.'

Privatised healthcare tends to cost more and accountability suffers, the report added.

Furthermore, private firms are motivated by profit, which leads to the 'cherry-picking' of lucrative, easy work with the NHS left to do difficult cases that cost more.

This 'ultimately leads to NHS services being cut', the report said.

One example of privatisation in the NHS is having huge corporations 'taking over' GP surgeries, it added.

Another is giving the private sector a role in decisions on the care patients receive, 'determining to some extent how the NHS budget should be spent'.

John Lister, of London Health Emergency campaign group, said the report was providing data for the first time on the 'rotten deal' obtained by the NHS from PFI.

He said "It's the equivalent of taking out a mortgage at 18 per cent interest rates - and you don't even own the property at the end of the day.

"We can't even expect a change of leader to improve the situation as Gordon Brown has been behind PFI. It's about time the public realised that PFI is a licence to print money by private consortia."

A spokesman for the Department of Health said "We are fully committed to a publicly funded NHS which delivers healthcare according to clinical need, not ability to pay. We do not recognise these figures.

"The independent sector has provided extra hospitals and staff, and has driven up standards by providing NHS patients with the ability to choose which hospital they go to.

"Over 250,000 people have received treatment faster than they would otherwise have done thanks to the independent sector.

'The NHS has always used the independent sector for treating patients. But the difference is now that we pay much less for this extra capacity for NHS patients thanks to our robust contracting."

More than 700 NHS workers face the sack at a cost of £36 million and patient journey times will double under controversial plans to close the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford.

Internal documents warn of 'significant' increases in ambulance transfer times from an incident to a hospital if the Royal Surrey closed, with a prediction that journey times would double.

Cancer waiting times will increase, claim the Conservatives which obtained the documents under the Freedom of Information Act from the hospital's NHS Trust.

Anne Milton, Conservative MP for Guildford and a former nurse, said "This new evidence proves what Government ministers and Whitehall bureaucrats won't admit. Vital hospital services in Guildford are being threatened by short-term financial considerations."

And a hospital in Teesside will close despite a pre-election promise from the Prime Minister that there was "no question" of it being shut down.

A review of local health services recommended that two hospitals in Hartlepool and Stockton should close and be replaced with a single 'super-hospital'.

But in September 2004 Tony Blair said Hartlepool Hospital would remain open. He said "There is no question of the hospital closing or being run down. We are there to improve it and not run it down."

A Downing Street spokesperson said "It is understandable that people have concerns when services change, but a local independent panel has made these recommendations to provide better, higher quality and safer services for local people than they receive at the moment."