Private equity groups bet on UK healthcare as NHS waiting lists grow

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Emperor@feddit.uk⁩ to ⁨unitedkingdom@feddit.uk⁩

https://www.ft.com/content/94184d66-517b-4893-8e06-df16efd135b3

Private equity firms have bought up dozens of UK healthcare companies including ambulance fleets, eye-care clinics and diagnostics businesses over the past two years as they seek to cash in on spiralling NHS waiting lists.

Private equity firms have struck 150 deals for UK healthcare companies since 2021, according to consultancy LaingBuisson, with the past two years the highest in terms of volume since at least 2014.

…

Tim Read, director of research at LaingBuisson, said private equity firms were increasingly buying up “organisations that are an integral part of healthcare delivery”.

“The pandemic has demonstrated the value of investing in healthcare services as it showed the resilience of operators which are underpinned by public funding.”

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originalucifer@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
is this the same bullshit they pull in the US where they suck all the money out of a perfectly functioning system, which cripples it. then they get to point at that system as a failure the only answer to which seems to be 'privatization'?

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- Emperor@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Pretty much.
  
  They wreck chunks of it and then pay their mates to pick up the slack, despite the most efficient use of public money being in ensuring there is no slack.
  
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- transientpunk@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Yes. Tories have been working at this for years
  
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Syldon@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
It has been known for a long time now. The Tories have already sold the NHS with privatisation. A large portion of procedures are not done by the NHS anymore. This is why the money doesn’t go anywhere. You may not be paying for it at point of use, but it is not public health anymore.

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tenebrisnox@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I remember that a former Labour leader warned this would happen and was roundly ridiculed in the media. Funny how lots of the things he warned about have come to pass.

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Emperor@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I moan about Tory incompetence but every cock up seems to result in public money being pumped into the pockets of big business. At some point you have to conclude this isn’t a bug it’s a feature. It would perhaps be too much to say they seem to be doing this all very well and it is likely it’s more disaster capitalism at work.

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charlytune@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
This is how it was designed to happen. It’s heartbreaking that by the time people realise that the NHS has been privatised it will all be a done deal. It’s in its death throes now. And then when it’s gone we’ll be gaslit into thinking it was always this way, or it’s the fault of socialism or something.

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