Proceeding contribution from Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 23 October 2019. It occurred during Queen's speech debate on The National Health Service.
The National Health Service
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that point. Of course, Governments can borrow at a much lower interest rate than any private business. Money is being sucked out of the NHS through the PFI across the UK, but there are also other ways in which money is being sucked out of the NHS, particularly NHS England—for example, through outsourcing under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. Private companies have to make a profit. Their chief executive is bound to make profit for the shareholders. They are not bound to deliver quality of care. We have seen clinical commissioning groups get trapped in this way. Six commissioning groups in Surrey tried to bring community care back into the NHS—they were not breaking a contract—but Virgin did what Virgin always does if it does not get a franchise renewed. It sued the CCGs. It is all hidden behind a commercial veil, but we know that at least one of those commissioning groups paid over £300,000 to settle out of court, and six groups together means that the figure was likely to be well over £2 million.
Secondary information
- Type
- Proceeding contribution
- Reference
- 666 c1018
- Session
- 2019-19
- Chamber / Committee
- House of Commons chamber
- Subjects
- Cannabis Capital investment Hospitals Health services Licensing NHS Medical treatments Privatisation Staff Mental health services Migrant workers Waiting lists Standards Surgery Social services Vacancies Trade agreements USA Accident and emergency departments
- Legislation
- Health and Social Care Act 2012
- Health Service Safety Investigations Bill (HL) 2019-19
- Link
- View this Proceeding contribution on hansard.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2022-09-14 23:38:26 +0100
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- http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2019-10-23/19102331000101
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