I am against wholesale privatisation of the NHS but I have seen services that have been subcontracted out, set up with loans that have my recommendations on them.
There are private ambulance services that provide non-paramedic but first-aider based support where needed.
There are private ambulance services that provide a full paramedic service.
Renal clinics operating out of rented / leased offices or even units on industrial estates with nurses in attendance.
MRI imaging services operating out of leased offices - I'm still trying to figure out how they got the machine in, the building was up a good 10 years before the MRI machine went in and it's a big machine and small office building.
A cataract clinic was reviewed recently but we didn't do that one because the sums didn't quite add up - wanted to borrow too much without their own equity.
if they can do it cheaper and better then why not. But cheaper and not as well and we pull funding and go to the guarantors - or tell them to get alternative funding - these are all checked by the CQC or equivalent for that sector and if there isn't one we insist on getting independent checks - then we bill the client for them.
I lobbied and succeeded in getting a loan withdrawn from a huge private hire company proving taxis to hospitals in London and the South because they were charging in full for missed trips - not just the lost profit or cost element and there is a reputational risk to the bank. This un-earnt income was £millions.
I've chatted to the staff; paramedics and nurses and they all seemed happy. Some were doing the work as overtime, some because it provided more flexibility over hours than the NHS - e.g. renal care ran well in to the night and some nurses loved those shifts because they started after their partners got home to look after their young ones. They all liked the better pay.
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