Submitted 1 year ago by merridew@feddit.uk to unitedkingdom@feddit.uk
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/17/private-equity-nhs-hospital-crisis
This has been the tory gameplan for years.
The morons who support tories so strongly are generally those who rely most heavily on the NHS (the elderly).
Shooting themselves in the foot, because they can’t see beyond their racist nonsense.
Same reason we got brexit. Racist fuckheads
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Last month, it was reported that one such firm acquired a staffing agency that employs NHS doctors and nurses, betting that the painful backlog of rescheduled appointments will be good for business.
The private equity firms of today were born on Wall Street in the 1980s era of the “leveraged buyout”, a technique that involved buying up companies, often loading them with debt and then selling them on at a profit.
The German healthcare system, which is often praised by rightwing thinktanks in Britain as a model to emulate, has seen numerous private equity deals in recent years.
Eye doctors have described how they face pressure to make “as much money as possible” by selling patients additional services, such as special examinations and cataract operations.
“Private equity firms are just the latest in a long line of investors that have seized this opportunity,” Vivek Kotecha, a chartered accountant who runs an independent consultancy, told me.
When asked how he would deal with the NHS crisis, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting echoed his Conservative counterparts and pledged to use private companies to reduce waiting lists.
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
shits going to get so bad over here. and the worst part is nobody actually cares, there is no movement against this
donut4ever@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Y’all are doomed if this shit happens. We have it here in the states and it ain’t fucking fun. People die because they can’t afford to visit the Dr. Others just go bankrupt. Fight this shit tooth and nail.
conditional_soup@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Came here to say just this. They’ll promise fucking anything, but here’s the reality:
-The system gets worse for patients AND doctors, because the money is now reserved for the investment firm rather than for paying for services or supporting the hospital. Basically, they’ll determine that there are “inefficiencies”, like maintenance on equipment like ventilators and IV pumps, free parking (not kidding), doctors seeing less than 4 patients and hour (not kidding), nurses having less than eight patients (also not kidding), and having certain specialties on call 24 hours (for the current rate) and “cut” the inefficiencies. Of course, none of that money being saved actually goes towards improving things for the hospital, patient, or provider, it just gets pocketed by the private equity firm.
-Starting with smaller, more rural hospitals, they’ll start stripping the hospitals for assets while simultaneously yelling constantly about how broke the hospital is and begging for huge taxpayer handouts just to stay open for another year. Eventually, in spite of any government bailouts they’ve received, they’ll still close the hospital anyway, assuring everyone that they’re very sad about it, but it’ll be okay because at least the bigger hospital down the road is still open (for now).
Don’t do it, you guys. Send these fucks packing and vote out any politician that tries to tell you that they need to let them fuck up your healthcare system.
JoBo@feddit.uk 1 year ago
We’re gonna get the choice to vote for politicians that won’t, right? Right?
donut4ever@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Yeah, shareholders and social services don’t get along well and never will. The blackholes want returns on their investments, and those returns have to be incremental, you have to make more profit every quarter. CEOs will start squeezing every last penny out of people and the government until the healthcare system becomes a shell of itself and only available for those rich ones. We are living it here in the states. Social services like these can never work with capitalism and its profits.
Syldon@feddit.uk 1 year ago
Tories have total control until the next GE. Everything is a smash grab with them right now. They know their card is marked for at least a decade after this lot.
femininemasculine@hexbear.net 1 year ago
but Starmer’s labour has been saying he’ll do the same: www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66319064
I don’t know how much things will change after the next GE. the current opposition leadership are neoliberals just like Rishi and co
donut4ever@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Yeah, this sounds ridiculous. So basically grab as much cash as possible on your way out? It always baffles me as to why and who votes for people like these? People who clearly work so hard against their own citizens.
solivine@sopuli.xyz 1 year ago
People vote for it willingly
donut4ever@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Of course, some will believe that the pig is pretty because of the lipstick, but the others need to work more to show them otherwise.