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16 NEWS
Socialist Worker 1 April 2020

Health service cuts legacy puts lives at risk

BACK STORY slashing staff and costs, other
by YURI PRASAD of cash to be made by further
A history of privatisation private sector vultures soon
WHY IS the NHS failing makes it harder for began circling.
to get the right protective the NHS to cope with Unipart, once the parts
equipment to health work- Covid-19 division of the British Leyland
ers coming face to face lKey services have been car firm, won the contract
with coronavirus? handed over to bosses after undercutting DHL in a
Hospitals are running out bidding war in 2018.
of masks and frontline staff lThese include contracts Many experts said their
have been forced to share or to run pathology services offer must have been unre-
improvise. and supply equipment alistically low to win, and
Health secretary Matt lBosses raked in billions pointed out that Unipart had
Hancock said last week he of pounds of public no experience in healthcare.
would move “heaven and money—and trimmed The firms that wanted a
earth” to solve the problem. down services slice of the privatised NHS pie
The reason for the failure lHealth care should be knew they had to compete on
does not centre on a lack of run for people and not for price, and the way to do that
stock but an inability to get profit was to close warehouses, fur-
the right equipment to the ther outsource drivers and IT
right place at the right time. departments.
To understand why, that Britain is unable to test In the process the NHS lost
we need to go back to the for coronavirus on anything vital expertise and any extra
governments of Tony Blair like the scale of many other capability it had to react to a
and Gordon Brown in the countries. crisis.
early 2000s. In 2006 Carter turned LACK OF equipment during this crisis is the result of years of cuts The real price of Blair’s
his mind to how to make era of privatisation is now
Despicable big savings by streamlining a staggering £22 billion. NHS Supply Chain so that it concerned by claims that the becoming clear—the inabil-
In particular we need to the NHS procurement and Workers were livid and was cost effective and ran as company overcharged federal ity of the NHS supply chain to
look at the despicable role distribution systems. launched the first national lean as possible. healthcare programmes. get the most basic and neces-
of Patrick Carter or Baron In one of the biggest ever strike in the NHS for almost This was touted by New Health insiders told of sary equipment to those who
Carter of Coles, as he prefers health privatisations, the 20 years, but private bosses Labour politicians as “best chaos in DHL’s operation lives depend on it.
to be known. NHS Purchasing and Supplies eventually got their way. practice”. with new technology failing
Socialist Worker last week Agency was broken up and DHL then brought in This “best practice” had and NHS trusts across Britain
But smelling large amounts 
pointed to the baron’s work the NHS Logistics section its healthcare specialist, already led to Novation up in arms about lack of stock More online
in helping privatise hospital handed over to the firm DHL. Novation. Its job was to help being investigated by the of vital equipment. For more go to
pathology labs. This means The contract was worth trim down the newly formed US justice department, www.socialistworker.co.uk
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