Jonathan Pie: Jeremy Hunt and the privatization of the NHS by stealth

Very pertinent video - not just for Brits.

Americans might find it interesting, given that Obama/Clinton were so enamoured of the NHS. Hence, the debacle that is Obamacare....

The crux is that you cannot run healthcare as a business.

But there are medical and insurance companies that want to screw as much out of the UK as they do out of the US.

And here's the really important FACT that none of these ministers/MPs, reporters or pundits, and importantly doctors and nurses ever talk about:

This year, the NHS Litigation Authority has a budget of £56 Billion (with a 'B'). With £similar Billions each year.

That's some 46% of the NHS total budget this year.

Ergo,

The NHS is NOT 'scraping by'

The NHS is NOT 'underfunded'

The NHS is NOT so 'overwhelmed by immigrants' that it cannot afford to treat everyone

No, indeed, the NHS is awash with money. Except that more than half of it is NOT spent on good-enough patient treatment (if you include supplies and all sorts of bungs, payoffs and whistleblower punishment costs).

Why are none of these people talking about this 46%??

Because

1. the number of patient claims for negligence and incompetence is huge.

That's because the level of negligence and incompetence is huge and increases year on year despite all the training and warnings. Shouldn't we be asking serious questions about all that?

And don't anyone bleat about 'compensation culture'. There is none. It is immensely difficult to get any solicitor to take on a case against the NHS. Your case has to be rock solid, a slam dunk, before they'll even talk to you. Which indicates that a huge proportion of patients are actually being harmed, they're not just 'chancing it'.

2. It's hard to get reliable figures (why would they want us to know...?) but it's a very good guess to say that some 85-90% of this £56Billion goes straight to lawyers on both sides of a case. Compensation payments/damages to patients in the UK in the £Millions are extremely rare. They're more like £10K-30K each. Paltry in the light of the immense injuries and misery far too many patients have to suffer.

3. Clearly, it's not in doctors' interests to talk about the enormous defence fund available to them - even though they're willing to campaign for more pay and 'better conditions'.

4. Almost a decade ago an anonymous survey of all NHS employees found that c. 55% of all staff said that "Healthcare is not the NHS's primary business". Shocking, right? You;d think 100% of staff would say that healthcare comprises 100% of the NHS's business!

But it's true. The NHS's business is deeply concerned with supporting a £multi-Billion legal gravy train and medical defence, contingency fee and health insurance industry. How many MPs and ministers are lawyers? How many sit on the boards of global companies who re-insure those customer-facing insurance outfits?

No wonder all these global companies are intensely interested in the NHS, there are huge profits to be made by giant legal firms and their contingency fee insurance companies.

That's why the vultures are circling and bit-by-bit picking off the most lucrative parts of the NHS. It's not about healthcare anymore. It's about profits derived from about 75% of the NHS's total annual budget (including here the NHS's vast supplies purchasing company).

We need to keep asking questions. This is not 'our NHS' anymore, not 'our national treasure'. It's a maggoty scam upon the taxpayer.

Remember, "All professions are a conspiracy upon the laity", wrote George Bernard Shaw...and the NHS is a monstrous example.

REFERENCE: [Link] Taxpayers' Alliance - 'NHS medical blunder pot doubles to £56billion'