In a Pulse Today article dated November 2013, then vice chair of Conservative Health, Dr Paul Charlson, made somewhat of a Freudian slip. Whilst admitting that in principle he agreed with implementing a £10 charge on GP visits, he went on to add that “(enacting a fee based system) would be political suicide” and “(t)hey could only really do it if there was a feeling in the country that health services were falling apart” – since then, the right-wing press has been doing it’s upmost to ensure that this feeling is being spread.
This leads us to the question of why. Why would the Tories want to present such an image of the much loved National Health Service? Why would they want to replace it with a fee-based system?
In the wake of the Junior Doctors strike and the ugly attacks on the hardworking, dedicated teams of the NHS, it is important to remind people of the many shady links and interests Tory peers, MP’s and members have with private health providers. As investigating all such links is an almost endless task, I have compiled the details of some of the largest and most significant ‘deals’ and ‘donations’ made.
Whilst reading through, bear in mind two quotes from prominent Conservative figures. Firstly, from ex-Conservative Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley: “The NHS is not for sale, there will be no privatisation”. Secondly, from ex-Tory leadership candidate, Michael Portillo in 2011, “They did not believe they could win an election if they told you what they were going to do because people are so wedded to the NHS.”
David Cameron
As Prime Minister, David Cameron is supposed to represent the national interest – not simply the Tory interest. Many of those Cameron has decided to elevate to the unelected House of Lords however, suggest differing motivations. Not only did Cameron give a peerage to Douglas Hogg, now infamous for claiming over £2000 of tax-payers money to clean out his moat, he has also awarded Ugandan-born (and almost perfectly named) businessman, Dolar Popat. Popat was one of the first to receive a peerage from Cameron shortly after taking office. Coincidentally, Mr. Popat has donated over £209,000 to the Tory Party.
As the founder and chief executive of the elderly care providers TLC Group, Popat has amassed a fortune of around £42 million. Interestingly, the businessman’s donations included a lump-sum of £25,000 registered just a week after Tory health reforms had been passed opening-up more NHS contracts to provide care providers such as TLC Group.
Andrew Lansley
The former Conservative Health Secretary retired from his position shortly after passing the Health and Social Care Act of 2012. This act has had a significant impact on the rate of privatisation within the NHS as it includes amendment S1257 which in essence compels NHS commissioners to open almost all services to private competition and to accept the lowest bids irrespective of any concerns over patient safety, quality or continuity of service. Since the act was passed and as a direct result of S1257, many NHS contracts have been opened-up to private and voluntary sectors.
Before taking up the position of Health Secretary, Lansley had been the benefactor of the enormous generosity of one John Nash – the ex-chairman of private health giants, Care UK – when Nash donated £21,000 directly to Lansley’s office. According to one senior director, Care UK was benefitting hugely from the opening of competition for NHS contracts enabled through the Health and Social Care Act, as 96% of their business came from the NHS. This amounted to over £400 million worth in 2013 alone, the year after Lansley had achieved the goal of passing his act in parliament.
Nash, along with his wife Caroline, have handed a combination of over £300,000 to the Conservatives since 2006 as has Nash’s business partner, Ryan Robson. Nash and Robson are partners at Sovereign Capital – a company who invest in a number of healthcare providers including Choice and Christchurch Court, City & County Healthcare, Complete Group, Eden Supported Housing, the National Fostering Agency, RehabWorks, Select Living Options and Tracscare. Robson himself has donated over £250,000 to the Tory party.
Soon after retiring from ‘public service’, Lansley made the leap to the private sector taking up a number of roles with private health companies. First there was Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical giants who had made a killing from the Cancer Drugs Fund set-up by a one, Mr. Lansley. Then there was US management firm, Bain and Co, who took Lansley on as an adviser after profiteering from the competitive openings in the NHS created by the Health and Social Care Act. Finally we have Blackstone (who will crop up again when we investigate Jeremy Hunt). Lansley has also taken on a consultancy role for the company accused of asset-stripping British care homes.
Jeremy Hunt
The current Secretary of State for Health and nemesis of Junior Doctors throughout the land, Jeremy Hunt has also accepted donations from private health investors. In June 2012 Hunt received a £3000 donation to his office from US hedge-fund CEO, Andrew Law. Law’s firm, Caxton Associates, owned a market share of $217.659 in healthcare as of November 2011. As of 2014, Caxton Associates donations to the Conservative Party stood at £231,530.
In 2014 Hunt announced plans to open the NHS further to private competition by selling off the in-house NHS recruitment agency, NHS Professionals. Which, according to Christina McNea, head of health at UNISON, “might inject short-term cash, but will cost the NHS trust vast amounts in the long term.” This same situation played out in 2013 when Hunt spent £1.4 billion on NHS redundancies followed by a further £3.9 billion filling the gaps left behind by such savage cuts.
Private health companies are the only real winners under Hunt’s NHS recruitment policies, especially the aforementioned Blackstone who in 2013, through supply of agency staff to NHS departments suffering staff shortages due to cuts, grew their revenue to £226 million.
Lord Coe
Sebastian Coe accepted a Life Peerage in 2000, elevating his position to that of a Lord in the unelected Upper House of British governance. Since this inception Coe has maintained a terrible voting record, turning up to vote just 162 times out of 1889 opportunities – or 8.6%, an attendance record which would see you expelled from any self-respecting school.
When Coe does bother to turn up to vote, personal profit and ideological agendas seem to be a more a motivation than the public interest. Of the 8.6% he has showed up for, a large proportion have been to vote in favour of Tory NHS reforms which, coincidentally, directly benefit the financial interests Coe has in the further privatisation of our NHS.
In his position as a director for AMT Sybex, an IT company which is already an established supplier to the NHS, Coe looks set to profit further as more and more NHS contracts are opened to private competitors through amendment S1257 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 – which, Coe also happened to vote in favour of.
Coe also holds the position of ‘strategic advisor’ for private health insurers – PruHealth. Of particular benefit to companies such as Pru has been the decision to allow NHS facilities to offer up to 49% of their services to the private sector. Said to enable struggling hospitals more freedom in trying to balance their books, when analysed in conjunction with the implications of amendment S1257 (opening contracts to private interests and offered to the lowest bidder in interests of profits instead of patients interests), it is clear that this notion will in fact incentivise presurised NHS hospitals to prioritise paying customers.
As is clearly evident, far too many Conservative Lords and Ministers have a vested interest in the continued privatisation of the NHS – for a more comprehensive list of all vested interests see here. What is also clear is that without the deception, backroom deals and underhand tactics employed by right-wing elements within the press, the Tories would never be able to win a democratic mandate to privatise the nations most prized institution. As the statistics clearly highlight, the overwhelming majority of British people are happy with the NHS and are against privatisation. Furthermore, on an international scale, the NHS is consistently demonstrable as one of, if not the, best health care system on the planet in terms of cost per head and the breadth of services delivered.
“The NHS will last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it” – we must fight for it and not allow what happened to the railways, to the steel industry, to the Post Office and now to RBS to happen to the NHS. It is ours not theirs. Don’t let them destroy it.
By Ben Hogg.
TrueAgenda I.M.O 