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NHS experts and campaigners including Melvyn Bragg, Ken Loach and Joan Bakewell call for legislation to end the markertisation of services
The NHS crisis isn’t just about lack of adequate funding. Over the last 30 years the NHS has been structurally dismantled under successive governments, leading to many of the serious failings that we are witnessing. US companies like Kaiser Permanente, McKinsey, Centene and United Health/Optum have been significantly involved in this, and in the delivery of NHS services.
US-HMO style “integrated care systems” are now being installed throughout England, although they are not statutory bodies and have no legal basis. These lack accountability following abolition, in the 2012 Health and Social Care (HSC) Act, of the health secretary’s duty to provide key NHS services throughout England. Billions of pounds of NHS funds now flow annually to multinational healthcare corporations through commercial contracts. The changes brought about by the HSC Act effectively end the English NHS as a comprehensive, public healthcare system. Continue reading...