Taking on The Legal Loan Sharks Of The Public Sector: The Fight For A Pfi Windfall Tax

How and why the State’s purchasing power should be used to renegotiate PFI deals

A Smith Institute report recently set out a “progressive” programme to reset the relationship between government and the private sector when delivering public services. The report recommends introducing new accountability requirements for private contractors – such as the need for open book accounting and for the introduction of profit caps. These are viable proposals for ensuring that … Read more

Time to move on from the ‘love in’ with outsourcing and PFI – here’s how

Following the collapse of Carillion comes an authoritative judgement by the National Audit Office that – it uses accountancy speak but the message is clear – the Private Finance Initiative has been a gigantic rip off. The nostrums of New Public Management stand exposed. The mantra “private good, public bad” sounds like it always was … Read more

PFI companies windfall from falling corporation tax rates

What is the basis for imposing a windfall tax on PFI operators? The NHS is currently in the most austere decade of funding growth in its 69-year history and is facing an unprecedented funding gap of up to £34bn over the 5-year period to 2020/21. With planners facing the unenviable task of rationing care, questions have been raised about areas of … Read more

PFI: a case of national self-harming

The case against PFI grows stronger as the repayment costs rise, NHS finances deteriorate, and international interest rates fall. There is an alternative. PFI is sometimes seen as yesterday’s battle. For over 20 years, capital funding for major public service schemes has been available predominantly only through PFI. Contracts have been tendered, partners selected, and … Read more

How the high cost of PFI has added to the deficit

No matter who wins the General Election, the next government will have to deal with the growing cost of inflexible PFI contracts. Those contracts make the task of balancing the books much more difficult. Under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), the private sector designs, builds and finances much needed new hospitals, schools, roads, prisons and … Read more

PFI Again

The Private Finance Initiative is in the news again as Barts with a huge PFI hits financial trouble. The total cost of all PFI schemes in the NHS is £2bn.  Around £1bn of that is payments for facilities management services.  The total expenditure of the NHS is £110bn. If all PFIs were somehow “nationalised” there … Read more

PFI

PFI – The Biggest Scam You’ve Never Heard Of You’d never be able to tell from the outside, but hundreds of our hospitals, schools, prisons roads and even homes are no longer controlled by us, the people. Why? Because politicians have given away our public buildings to private companies – only to have us rent them … Read more

Myths about PFI markets and privatisation

There is a widespread consensus about the challenges which face our care system.  There is a growing consensus that we need to focus more on avoidance and prevention, on behaviour and culture and on things like integrated whole person care and on community development – less on organisations and structures – no more reorganisations. Yet … Read more

NHS 75 Conference – Sally Ruane

    SCOPING THE ISSUES  I’ve been asked to talk about what is needed to address the failings of current policy as described during  the day. I’m going to organise this around the principles and values which underpinned the original NHS. I have limited time so these will be examples.       *Comprehensiveness This … Read more

Categories NHS

Wes Streeting’s talk to the King’s Fund.

Wes Streeting’s remarks today to the Kings Fund that he won’t “pour more resources” into the NHS are deeply worrying. As Labour’s health affiliate, the Socialist Health Association is clear that a significant funding boost is required to rebuild the NHS which has been run into the ground by successive Tory governments. We are calling … Read more

A thousand little ships: PDA calls for community pharmacists to administer second doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine

The pharmacists’ defence association and trade union, PDA, is to urge the NHS to develop its strategy for the delivery of the second vaccination in good time and to give the role of the second vaccination of the Astra Zeneca vaccine to the national community pharmacy network as part of a collaborative and integrated NHS … Read more