Ever wondered where the 53,000 private contracts in the NHS worth £29bn are? Well, now you can find out.

The campaign group EveryDoctor has launched a groundbreaking new project. It has built an updated map showing the enormous number of NHS services that have been outsourced and privatised across the UK. Their website will enable thousands of people who are concerned about NHS privatisation to contact their MPs.

NHS privatisation: the evidence is mounting up

There is mounting evidence about the harm created by privatisation in healthcare. The University of Oxford published an analysis in 2022 which links NHS privatisation to avoidable patient deaths. More recently, research looking at healthcare systems across the world has concluded that “At the very least, health-care privatisation has almost never had a positive effect on the quality of care”

In terms of spending, the evidence of privatisation in the NHS is stark. As the Economic Observatory reported, in the last two decades the proportion the NHS spent on private contractors went up from 3.9% in 2008/09 to 7.3% in 2018/19. Since then, the percentage has remained stable – but the actual value has increased, from £9.69bn in 2019/20 to £12.17bn in 2020/21.

However, as the Economic Observatory noted:

The Centre for Health and the Public Interest (CHPI) suggests that this is a significant underestimate. Its analysis includes further spending, such as that by local authorities, charities, the voluntary sector and social care, in its estimates, which suggest that the proportion of the NHS budget spent on private providers is at least 18%.

That is, nearly a fifth of the NHS budget is spent on privatised services. Some research puts that figure higher. As Investment Monitor noted:

London School of Economics in 2019 estimated that rather than the widely reported 7%, the real figure was roughly 25%.

The London School of Economics also estimated that there are 53,000 private contracts within the health service, worth around £29bn a year – around a fifth of the entire NHS budget.

EveryDoctor: stop the sell off

EveryDoctor is strongly opposed to NHS privatisation because of patient safety concerns, and also because of the disruption and bureaucracy that short-term contracts cause. The NHS is a key electoral issue for millions of people, and with the NHS in crisis and millions unable to access timely treatment, the situation is more pressing than ever.

EveryDoctor team member and GP in Liverpool Dr Emily Ball said:

NHS outsourcing causes public money to be funnelled out into private companies, some of which are major corporations looking to enrich their shareholders. We need to invest in the NHS and make sure that money goes to delivering excellent, well-staffed services.

EveryDoctor chief executive Dr Julia Patterson said:

NHS privatisation introduces a profit motive into the delivery of healthcare, and that’s bad for everyone apart from company shareholders. If we want to rebuild the NHS, politicians need to support NHS staff properly to deliver excellent care to patients, and stop funnelling money into private companies to enrich shareholders.

The EveryDoctor team has shared its map with its online network of over 400,000 people, and hopes to draw much-needed attention to this important issue. You can view the map here.

Featured image via Garry Knight