The NHS

[bluealf]

What you have to remember is the first one is always 'false'. to counter that the next 3 are 'true' followed by another false. stick with that formula and you cant go far wrong.

False

 

[urban genie]

Despite the denials we all know with johnson we are looking at the same

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

Despite the denials we all know with johnson we are looking at the same

Sadly, one key slice of the NHS is already lying in a distressed state on the operating table, where it has been chopped up for profit-hungry private firms.

And giant US health corporations, along with hedge funds and private equity firms, are already here and bleeding dry this profitable corner of the NHS – with often disastrous consequences for some of our most desperate patients. Sadly, no one seems to care much since it is “only” the mental health sector – for so long the neglected Cinderella service.

Yet in recent years a small cluster of fatcats have got their claws into Britain’s psychiatric services, exploiting the struggles of the health service to cope with surging demand.

These operators have grabbed nearly £2bn of business, providing almost one quarter of NHS mental health beds and soaking up close to half the total spend on child and adolescent mental health services.

This means they own many NHS-funded units holding people such as teenage girls who self-harm and adults with suicidal thoughts, along with hundreds of people with autism and learning disabilities scandalously locked up due to lack of support in their local communities.

These firms benefit as overloaded mental health services and risk-averse officials send more and more troubled citizens into secure units.

It is a lucrative business when it costs up to £730,000 per patient a year. Bosses can pocket millions – but many frontline workers earn little more than minimum wage and the use of agency staff is routine, despite the need to develop patient relationships.

Acadia, a Tennessee-based health giant, spent £1.3bn buying the Priory Group and now boasts of earning than £188m in just three months from British public services. “Demand for independent sector beds has grown significantly as a result of the NHS reducing its bed capacity and increasing hospitalisation rates,” said its last annual report.

Operating profits at Cygnet, owned by another huge US firm, have surged to £45.2m due to deals with 228 NHS purchasing bodies after it bought a rival group last year. Another outfit called Elysium, backed by private equity through a Luxembourg firm, only launched three years ago, but is already earning revenues of £61.2m from at least 55 units.

But a study by the Rightful Lives campaign group has found these three firms alone own 13 of the 16 mental health settings judged “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission watchdog, since it found some teeth after the furore over abusive detention of people with autism and learning disabilities exploded a year ago.

Cygnet runs eight of these “inadequate” units, although its US boss is reportedly the richest chief executive in the hospital industry, who collected more than £39m in one year from pay, bonuses and stock. Priory and Cygnet also owned hospitals exposed by disturbing undercover television documentaries over the past year.

I have heard a stream of horror stories from despairing families and former patients involving solitary confinement, forcible injections, abuse and overuse of restraint, during investigations into this area. Some were detained in NHS psychiatric units. But most involve privately-run units.

People such as Megan, who was sectioned for self-harm, suicidal thoughts and later found to be suffering post-traumatic stress from childhood traumas. She was in four clinics – but in one run by the Priory, aged just 16, she was even held stark naked for one month to prevent self-harm until her parents delivered a “safe suit”.

“It was the most degrading time of my life,” she told me. The firm was fined £300,000 earlier this year for failings after the suicide of a 14-year-old girl at the same unit.

It seems our politicians on all sides prefer to posture over whether the NHS is really for sale to “mega-corporations” while ignoring those that have already arrived and are pocketing vast sums while offering inadequate services to so many despairing citizens. Once again, we see how little Westminster actually cares.

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/swathes...facilities-have-been-sold-to-us-firms-1329232

 

[Saddleworth2]

Sadly, one key slice of the NHS is already lying in a distressed state on the operating table, where it has been chopped up for profit-hungry private firms.

And giant US health corporations, along with hedge funds and private equity firms, are already here and bleeding dry this profitable corner of the NHS – with often disastrous consequences for some of our most desperate patients. Sadly, no one seems to care much since it is “only” the mental health sector – for so long the neglected Cinderella service.

Yet in recent years a small cluster of fatcats have got their claws into Britain’s psychiatric services, exploiting the struggles of the health service to cope with surging demand.

These operators have grabbed nearly £2bn of business, providing almost one quarter of NHS mental health beds and soaking up close to half the total spend on child and adolescent mental health services.

This means they own many NHS-funded units holding people such as teenage girls who self-harm and adults with suicidal thoughts, along with hundreds of people with autism and learning disabilities scandalously locked up due to lack of support in their local communities.

These firms benefit as overloaded mental health services and risk-averse officials send more and more troubled citizens into secure units.

It is a lucrative business when it costs up to £730,000 per patient a year. Bosses can pocket millions – but many frontline workers earn little more than minimum wage and the use of agency staff is routine, despite the need to develop patient relationships.

Acadia, a Tennessee-based health giant, spent £1.3bn buying the Priory Group and now boasts of earning than £188m in just three months from British public services. “Demand for independent sector beds has grown significantly as a result of the NHS reducing its bed capacity and increasing hospitalisation rates,” said its last annual report.

Operating profits at Cygnet, owned by another huge US firm, have surged to £45.2m due to deals with 228 NHS purchasing bodies after it bought a rival group last year. Another outfit called Elysium, backed by private equity through a Luxembourg firm, only launched three years ago, but is already earning revenues of £61.2m from at least 55 units.

But a study by the Rightful Lives campaign group has found these three firms alone own 13 of the 16 mental health settings judged “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission watchdog, since it found some teeth after the furore over abusive detention of people with autism and learning disabilities exploded a year ago.

Cygnet runs eight of these “inadequate” units, although its US boss is reportedly the richest chief executive in the hospital industry, who collected more than £39m in one year from pay, bonuses and stock. Priory and Cygnet also owned hospitals exposed by disturbing undercover television documentaries over the past year.

I have heard a stream of horror stories from despairing families and former patients involving solitary confinement, forcible injections, abuse and overuse of restraint, during investigations into this area. Some were detained in NHS psychiatric units. But most involve privately-run units.

People such as Megan, who was sectioned for self-harm, suicidal thoughts and later found to be suffering post-traumatic stress from childhood traumas. She was in four clinics – but in one run by the Priory, aged just 16, she was even held stark naked for one month to prevent self-harm until her parents delivered a “safe suit”.

“It was the most degrading time of my life,” she told me. The firm was fined £300,000 earlier this year for failings after the suicide of a 14-year-old girl at the same unit.

It seems our politicians on all sides prefer to posture over whether the NHS is really for sale to “mega-corporations” while ignoring those that have already arrived and are pocketing vast sums while offering inadequate services to so many despairing citizens. Once again, we see how little Westminster actually cares.

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/swathes...facilities-have-been-sold-to-us-firms-1329232

Excellent post shining a light on this. Mental health residential care is going the same way as residential care for the elderly. Privatised and run for profit with extremely tight cost control.

 

[Magicpole]

To all the people who believe the Tories won't try to sell off the NHS.

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Don't be a daft **** and get your order in fast. First in, first rich. It's a fucking winner Tom.
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SOLD AS SEEN.

 

[bobmcfc]

I have ulcerative colitis which is managed with biological infusions every 8 weeks, diabetes Which was insulin reliant for my entire pregnancy and I just had a baby 7 weeks premature who spent time in NICU. I can assure that my care and the care of my baby for all of them has been far from shite. I don’t know what I’d do without the NHS

 

[Magicpole]

I have ulcerative colitis which is managed with biological infusions every 8 weeks, diabetes Which was insulin reliant for my entire pregnancy and I just had a baby 7 weeks premature who spent time in NICU. I can assure that my care and the care of my baby for all of them has been far from shite. I don’t know what I’d do without the NHS

None of us do.

 

[bobmcfc]

Despite the denials we all know with johnson we are looking at the same

I also believe trump wants us to buy their drugs at a higher price, he thinks it’s unfair we pay so little for medicine.
Now I am a Pharmacy dispenser. I order all types of medicines everyday so I can tell you the cost we get charged from Our suppliers is peanuts compared to what the American people pay. Even with insurance and coupons .
Average cost of vial of branded insulin in the USA is $200 + and that’s 1 vial

I buy 1 box of 5 vials of novorapid insulin and it is £30. I give novorapid as an example as it’s one of the most frequently used. Humalog KwikPens are about £56 per box of 5.
it’s kind of a mute point because no NHS patient will pay for diabetes medication because it’s deemed a life saving necessity and it’s exempt from charge.
Now I’m by no means an expert in pharmaceuticals but if a trade deal involves America driving up the prices of the drugs we buy then I really fear for the nhs as a whole. The disparity between branded and generic is pretty big in America. They cry about research costs and what not and to a point I get it but the cost is obscene at the point of sale

as it is here sometimes there isn’t much different in the cost of a generic drug over a branded drug but this is rare. Even so it won’t usually be more than a few quid or for rarer items maybe £20/30 pounds. Sometimes there is no generic alternative and the NHS will absorb whatever that cost is

 

[Chippy_boy]

I also believe trump wants us to buy their drugs at a higher price, he thinks it’s unfair we pay so little for medicine.
Now I am a Pharmacy dispenser. I order all types of medicines everyday so I can tell you the cost we get charged from Our suppliers is peanuts compared to what the American people pay. Even with insurance and coupons .
Average cost of vial of branded insulin in the USA is $200 + and that’s 1 vial

I buy 1 box of 5 vials of novorapid insulin and it is £30. I give novorapid as an example as it’s one of the most frequently used. Humalog KwikPens are about £56 per box of 5.
it’s kind of a mute point because no NHS patient will pay for diabetes medication because it’s deemed a life saving necessity and it’s exempt from charge.
Now I’m by no means an expert in pharmaceuticals but if a trade deal involves America driving up the prices of the drugs we buy then I really fear for the nhs as a whole. The disparity between branded and generic is pretty big in America. They cry about research costs and what not and to a point I get it but the cost is obscene at the point of sale

as it is here sometimes there isn’t much different in the cost of a generic drug over a branded drug but this is rare. Even so it won’t usually be more than a few quid or for rarer items maybe £20/30 pounds. Sometimes there is no generic alternative and the NHS will absorb whatever that cost is

Bob, get a grip. Why on EARTH would we agree to pay 25x as much for US drugs? Why? It would be mad for us to do that, would it not. We're not going to do it.

 

[bobmcfc]

Bob, get a grip. Why on EARTH would we agree to pay 25x as much for US drugs? Why? It would be mad for us to do that, would it not. We're not going to do it.

Bob, get a grip. Why on EARTH would we agree to pay 25x as much for US drugs? Why? It would be mad for us to do that, would it not. We're not going to do it.

Perhaps we would be backed into a corner in a trade deal ? The price of doing business

I mean it’s not like we’d be daft enough to not make amazon pay its proper taxes is it..