Medicine mark-up…
Boots charged the NHS £3,220 for medicated mouthwash – available for the equivalent of £93 on the high street, says a Times investigation. This equates to a mark-up of 3,478%.
The chief executive and 15% shareholder of Boots’s parent company, Stefano Pessina, is worth $13.7 billion, according to Forbes. He lives in Monaco and owns a 50-metre yacht. Nationalise big pharma!
… poor lose GPs
The number of GPs in areas home to the poorest fifth of people fell by 511 between 2008 and 2017. Meanwhile, numbers near the homes of the best-off fifth rose by 134, says a written parliamentary answer to Labour.
The total number of GPs working in England fell by 541 in the last year, according to NHS Digital data.
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Top Trumps and happy families
Ivanka Trump, Donald’s daughter, tweeted a pic of herself embracing her toddler – as US press reported on border agents separating migrant families. Trump’s policy is to send adults straight into the court deportation system, while tearing kids as young as one from their arms for resettlement as refugees.
Back in Britain, property developer Jomast has been forcing adult asylum seekers to share bedrooms in Newcastle. The firm subcontracts for notorious privateer G4S. A tribunal has ruled the practice legal.
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Town and gown
Oxford and Cambridge universities, with their constituent colleges, own combined assets worth at least £21 billion, Guardian analysis has found. Average UK graduate debt is set for £50,800, according to the IFS.