Daily Archives: 10 June 2025

Public ownership of England’s water companies could cost close to zero, says thinktank

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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/09/water-companies-public-ownership-could-cost-close-to-zero-says-common-wealth-thinktank

Thames Water’s £20bn debt reduces its value, argues thinktank, Common Wealth. Photograph: Maureen McLean/REX/Shutterstock

[Guardian] Exclusive: Common Wealth report argues debt, pollution and underinvestment justify process known as special administration

Ministers could bring water companies into public ownership for minimal cost through a process designed to safeguard vital public services when the companies running them are failing, a thinktank report has argued.

According to the report by Common Wealth, ministers could use a process known as special administration to take over a company like Thames Water and, rather than transfer it to another private company, keep it under permanent public ownership.

Writing for the thinktank, Ewan McGaughey, professor of law at King’s College London, said that while a figure of £99bn was commonly cited as the cost of taking over the industry in England, this was based on an estimate from a thinktank paid for by water companies.

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The actual market value of water companies, the report argued, seems to be lower, with the US private equity company KKR offering a £4bn injection of equity to take over Thames Water, when its supposed regulatory capital value is nearer £20bn.

A Thames Water van parked in London

It goes on to say that when debt levels of water companies are taken into account, for example Thames Water is about £20bn in debt, it would be possible for the government to argue that their appropriate value in law was notably less, even close to zero.

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Original article at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/09/water-companies-public-ownership-could-cost-close-to-zero-says-common-wealth-thinktank

Continue ReadingPublic ownership of England’s water companies could cost close to zero, says thinktank

Thousands harmed and 87 dead after NHS equipment failures in England

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/09/thousands-harmed-and-87-dead-after-nhs-equipment-failures-in-england

Labour has pledged to double the number of scanners in English hospitals over the course of the parliament. Photograph: wilpunt/Getty Images

‘Shocking statistics’ prompt calls for government funding to replace broken and obsolete medical devices

Almost 100 people have died and 4,000 have been harmed after equipment malfunctions in the NHS in the past three years, prompting calls for more government funding to upgrade broken and obsolete medical devices.

A defibrillator advising paramedics not to administer a shock, an emergency alarm system on a neonatal ward failing, and the camera on an intubation device going dark were just three failures after which patients died.

They are included in figures released for the first time by NHS England that show patients were harmed after 3,915 equipment malfunction incidents – with 87 being followed by a death – since 2022.

Paul Whiteing, the chief executive of Action against Medical Accidents, said: “These are shocking statistics. Behind these numbers are real people who are needlessly harmed, the impact of which will be life-changing and traumatic.

“The scale of the harm and loss of life that has resulted from basic equipment failures and malfunctions shows in stark relief the scale of the tragedy that has resulted from years of underfunding in the NHS.”

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Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “Modern, up-to-date equipment such as scanners, defibrillators and patient monitors are absolutely essential for hospitals to run safely and more productively. But due to more than a decade of being starved of capital investment, NHS staff have been left with no option but to extend the life of obsolete equipment, which, as this research shows, is putting patients at unnecessary risk and leading to tragic avoidable harm.

“While the additional investment the government has pledged has been a welcome start, without sufficient capital funding it will be hard for the NHS to maintain the standards patients rightly expect and to deliver the government’s ‘plan for change’ promise to cut waiting times.”

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Original article is at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/09/thousands-harmed-and-87-dead-after-nhs-equipment-failures-in-england

Continue ReadingThousands harmed and 87 dead after NHS equipment failures in England