Half of private firms behind NHS privatisation have links to Tories
Dr Clive Peedell, co-founder of the National Health Action Party.
At least half of the companies which jointly Half of the private firms which jointly won the largest NHS privatisation deal in history have links to Tory politicians or the Tory party, shock research reveals.
The Mirror told last week how the Government had signed a record £780million contract with 11 companies to help tackle the backlog of thousands of patients waiting for surgery and tests.
The news was met by anger, not least because three of the 11 profit-driven firms had previously been slammed for providing poor quality of care.
And last night it emerged that at least half of the companies have close links to Tory politicians or the Tory party itself.
Dr Clive Peedell, a leading cancer doctor and co-leader of the National Health Action party, said: “I think the public will be totally sickened by this apparently incestuous relationship between the Tories and private healthcare companies.
“Not only are the Tories hell-bent on using private companies to take over NHS services and not only are they using private companies with a track record of patient failure. But now it looks like Tory donors are paying for access and influence and directly profiting from the privatisation of our NHS.”
Dr Peedell added: “No wonder the public is so turned off by politics when they see what appears to be influence being bought and politicians abusing their positions of trust.”
Critics predicted “the public will be totally sickened” by the revelation which they claimed exposed the “incestuous relationship” between the Tories and private health firms.
Andy Burnham, Labour’s shadow health secretary, whose party uncovered the links between some of the 11 private firms and the Tories, described it as “wrong on every level”.
He said: “It is only right that the close financial ties between the Tory Party and private health firms which have won contracts under this Government are revealed before people go to vote.
“David Cameron does not have the permission of a single voter to parcel up and sell off large chunks of the NHS. He forced his privatisation plan through Parliament without a mandate from the public and it is Tory donors and MPs that have been some of the biggest winners.
“Voters have a right to know the full extent of the relationship between the Tories and private health. When these privatisation plans were being drawn up in secret by Andrew Lansley before the 2010 election, his office was being bankrolled by a private health company. That stinks and is wrong on every level.”
Vanguard, one of the 11 firms to win the £780million deal, is majority owned by private equity firm MML Capital, whose founder and chief executive Rory Brooks has donated more than £300,000 to the Tory party, according to research by Labour.
Mr Brooks is also a member of David Cameron’s exclusive leaders group.
Circle, which pulled out of running the first privately-run NHS hospital, Hinchingbrooke, in Cambridgeshire, is another of the 11 firms to have links to the Tories.
Care UK, another winner in the £780million deal, was previously slammed by the Care Quality Commission for the quality of care at two nursing homes it runs in Suffolk. John Nash, a former chairman of Care UK, has, with his wife donated almost £300,000 to the Tory party and was given a peerage by Mr Cameron in 2013.
Three other firms involved in the deal also have links to the Tory party, with Tory peers or MPs having previously held positions with them.
The companies said there was no link between donations to the Tories – made privately by individuals and not by the firms – and each company’s business investments.
But UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “The plan was simple, sell our NHS to private companies, turn a profit out of people’s misfortune and pay back the Tory party.
“This Government has worked hard to clamp down on union donations to the Labour party when behind the scenes it has been making a fortune on health contracts sold to their friendly funders.
“Everything about this is wrong and it is clear this Government has no interest in the health of the country, or the future of the NHS.”
A Care UK spokesman said: “Care UK does not donate funds to any political party and never has.
“The figures quoted refer to a personal donation to the Conservative Party made by the wife of John Nash, a former chairman of Care UK, in 2009. John Nash stepped down as chairman of Care UK in April 2010.”
A Circle spokesman said: “Circle has never donated any money to any political party, and much of our NHS work started before the last election.”
