Emeritus Prof Christopher May3d ago

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

Private firms providing services to NHS made £1.6bn profit in two years, research finds

Exclusive: MPs say profit-making levels in England are ‘scandalous’ and call for cap on amount private companies can make from NHS

The Guardian
Show threadJohn
@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).
Apr 13 at 9:20amMastodon for Android