The Socialist 24 February 2010

NHS: not safe in their hands!

NHS: Not safe in their hands!

Private 'vultures' to run NHS hospital

How to stop cuts and defend public services

Demo opposes £29m Notts county cuts

Young people deserve a future: Join the Manchester march for jobs on 13 March

Youth Fight for Jobs Demonstrations

RMT branch supports challenge to Denham

Support the TUSC election challenge

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition General Election launch rally

British Airways cabin crew v management: Round two

Anger on Teesside over Corus closure

ID cards - an expensive threat to civil liberties

Tories attack community café...

Yarl's Wood hunger strike

Fast news

The Eton co-op won't work

Nominate Roger Bannister: Unison's leadership battle

Unison witch-hunt continues

South Wales: Demo against council cuts

Staythorpe: the fight for workplace safety

Port workers battle bosses... and high court

Jobcentre staff fight cuts

Leeds university: Support lecturers striking to save jobs

Fighting leadership needed for UCU

CWU women vote for political review

CWI Latin America school: A continent on the brink

Iraq: All eyes on the oil prize

Campaigning rights victory: But questions remain on new Waltham Forest policy

How can the racist BNP be defeated?

Scottish Defence League defeated: Working class political alternative urgently needed

Previous issues, etc

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Private 'vultures' to run NHS hospital

PRIVATE 'VULTURE' companies are licking their lips at the prospect of taking over and running a NHS hospital for the first time. The prize will go to one of five private bidders in October after Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust withdrew from the bidding process to operate Hitchingbrooke Hospital, Huntingdon - which has 'debts' of £40 million - as a franchise.

Many trusts accumulated deficits due to successive Tory and Labour governments' market oriented policies. Years of chronic under-investment, plus high Private Finance Initiative charges, have pushed many trusts toward bankruptcy.

Under the Hitchingbrooke deal, the NHS will retain the hospital's assets but the workers will be transferred to the new owners. In a labour-intensive service like the NHS, cuts in the payroll will inevitably follow privatisation.

The successful bidder will run the hospital, with a £92 million annual turnover, on a seven to ten year contract.

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NHS: Not safe in their hands!