NHS Privatisation

Privatisation refers to the movement of assets from the public (government) sector to the private sector; it can include selling shares of the asset, entire company or the formation of whole new private businesses to replace the removed public business. This transfer often shifts the focus of the company or asset from one of providing the service from public funding to one of making a profit and increasing share worth for shareholders. The history of privatisation in the UK has been controversial, particularly within the Thatcher era.

Throughout British politics, the idea of the National Health Service being privatised is a highly debated subject, in the 2015 election it was a key talking point, particularly by labour. Labour claimed that

In both of these examples, the government sold shares or the business itself to different companies, however, this is not so with the NHS. Rather than sell the whole service, contracts for services within the NHS are put up for auction. This means that the NHS is not actually being truly privatised but using private companies for services, despite this, there are still many arguments that suggest that this will have a negative effect on the service as a whole. Privatisation and outsourcing of contracts will be used interchangeably for the purpose of this document as they are both used to describe the same thing when discussing the NHS. Though it should be noted that privatisation may be used by those against privatisation to promote a dislike of the idea to people who are not as informed on the

In this system the people pay both tax and are encouraged to take out health insurance too, they can choose which hospital to go to creating an element of competition in the system. Wait times in Germany are exceedingly short with few waiting lists. It is important to note that Germany is struggling with healthcare costs the same as Britain but still maintains a more efficient system. By allowing choice of which hospital to visit, only hospitals with good reputations survived, this meant that only good quality care would lead to profits and so that is provided by all.

An example within Britain is in Bedfordshire. The local NHS has asked different organisations to suggest the best way to deliver all musculo-skeletal health care services for the next five years. All qualified providers, including NHS hospitals, GP practices and private companies, are able to bid to provide the best possible service at the lowest expense. This means only the best proposal will be chosen and allows for competition within the NHS. Due to there being relatively little privatisation of the NHS so far on a large scale, there is seemingly little evidence for major improvements at this